Photo: Garth Milan / Red Bull Photofiles

Blockwood interviews Travis Pastrana

Is he the Evel Kneivel for the millennium? Once touted as a loose cannon, Travis has since shown that he is as calculated as a physicist, but he's a career man and he has to be. Huck and pray is a technique for one hit wonder. Travis has shown time after trick that he's here to stay. After watching some of the videos on Red Bull's site, I had to talk to the man himself mostly about flying a car.

Post morning coffee, I took the G500 to the Burlington, VT airport and hopped on a flight to LA. The BNQT.com Gulfstream had interior appointments on par with the Burj Al Arab: mediocre coffee, and an excellent (looking) flight crew. Not long after Noon I was in LA, where TP and I sat down to play some video games and chat about his Red Bull No Limits jump of the Long Beach Pier. After too many RB's, and no batteries in my my tape recorder, this is all I remember from the conversation.

blockwood: So, TP, the crash video looked like you were in 4th or 5th gear going off the practice jump in Elsinore. How fast were you going?

Pastrana: About 95mph give or take with the wind.

blockwood: Is the wind that big a factor?

Pastrana: A 5mph head wind was the difference of 40 feet in distance, hence the big crash.

blockwood: Is that similar to a moto?

Pastrana: Well, the car flies like a motorcycle up to 60mph then the wind effects it exponentially more than a bike.

blockwood: You can't really move the car around in the air like a bike, right?

Pastrana is a cowboy alright - but a Space cowboy?Pastrana: Not entirely - I hit the clutch and pulled the hand brake one time because it was flying front end high... I felt like Tommy Lee Jones in the movie Space Cowboys. The front went from about 60 degrees pitched up to about 45 degrees down and I greased the landing.

blockwood: Does it work in the other way?

Pastrana: Holding the throttle on also works like a dirt bike and brings up the front end but not as much as the brakes.

blockwood: I am going to say it - requisite - kids don't try this on the driveway into Denny's. You'll need a least a 65 or 70ft of distance before you even start to have the air time to fly a car.

Don't miss Pastrana's pier to barge jump tonight on live everything. http://www.redbullusa.com/cs/Satellite/en_US/Sports/Motor-Sports/New-Year-No-Limits/001242797773354

You can also snoop around this blog for all the other videos that TP and Red Bull have put out to get everyone pumped up.