Travis Pastrana returns to motocross racing today at Red Bull Straight Rhythm

By Oct 4, 2014, 2:30 PM EDT
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With all that action sports icon Travis Pastrana has accomplished throughout his well-rounded career, it’s easy to forget that he was a national motocross champion 14 years ago.

Pastrana has since retired from motocross racing to focus on other passions. He has long been one of the most progressive riders in freestyle motocross but has also carved out a successful career in rallycross and even attempted a recent foray into NASCAR. This afternoon, he’ll be back on a bike for a brand-new event that will put him head-to-head with some of the top motocross riders in the sport today.

Red Bull Straight Rhythm is like a supercross track without any of the turns – or as the event organizers like to say, it’s “supercross unwound.” The course is a half-mile straightaway of rhythm sections, jumps, whoops and sand sections built on top of a drag strip track in Southern California. Although Red Bull held a test event last year, this will be the first time that it’s ever been done as a full-fledged competition.

Seeking an edge, Pastrana has loaded his #199 Suzuki up on horsepower. Whereas most of his competitors in the open class will be riding a 450cc four-stroke bike, he is mounted on a 500cc two-stroke. It’s a bike so powerful that Pastrana has dubbed it the “RM-Zilla.” (Suzuki’s 450cc bike is named the RM-Z450.)

Despite all the added horsepower, even Pastrana was not immune to the challenging nature of the course. “If you don’t get the first jump, you’re running a completely different rhythm all the way down the entire track than everyone else, which is awesome,” he said. “That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be. It’s basically like a tic-tac-toe puzzle.”

Out of 16 riders in the open class, Pastrana qualified eighth in Friday’s practice session, putting him head-to-head with Josh Hansen in the opening round of today’s competition, which utilizes a best-of-three bracket format to decide a winner. Should Pastrana defeat the ninth-seeded Hansen, he would be on a collision course with James Stewart – the fastest rider in qualifying and the overwhelming event favorite – in the quarterfinals.

It’s a tough task, but Pastrana has made a career out of defying the odds.

To see how Pastrana fares in his return to racing, watch Red Bull Straight Rhythm live online starting at 5:30 p.m. ET today on RedBull.tv.

NBC will also air television coverage of the event on December 20.

After New York whirlwind, Josef Newgarden makes special trip to simulator before Detroit

By Jun 2, 2023, 10:00 AM EDT
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DETROIT – There’s no rest for the weary as an Indy 500 winner, but Josef Newgarden discovered there are plenty of extra laps.

The reigning Indy 500 champion added an extra trip Wednesday night back to Concord, N.C., for one last session on the GM Racing simulator before Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After a 30-year run on the Belle Isle course, the race has been moved to a nine-turn, 1.7-mile layout downtown, so two extra hours on the simulator were worth it for Newgarden.

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“I really wanted to do it,” he told NBC Sports at a Thursday media luncheon. “If there’s any time that the sim is most useful, it’s in this situation when no one has ever been on a track, and we’re able to simulate it as best as we can. We want to get some seat time.

“It’s extra important coming off the Indy 500 because you’ve been out of rhythm for a road or street course-type environment, so I really wanted some laps. I was really appreciative to Chevy. There was a few guys that just came in and stayed late for me so I could get those laps before coming up here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I feel like it’s going to help for me.”

After a whirlwind tour of New York for two days, Newgarden arrived at the simulator (which is at the GM Racing Technical Center adjacent to Hendrick Motorsports) in time for a two hour session that started at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He stayed overnight in Charlotte and then was up for an early commercial flight to Detroit, where he had more media obligations.

Newgarden joked that if he had a jet, he would have made a quick stop in Nashville, Tennessee, but a few more days away from home (where he has yet to return in weeks) is a worthy tradeoff for winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – though the nonstop interviews can take a toll.

“It’s the hardest part of the gig for me is all this fanfare and celebration,” Newgarden said. “I love doing it because I’m so passionate about the Indy 500 and that racetrack and what that race represents. I feel honored to be able to speak about it. It’s been really natural and easy for me to enjoy it because I’ve been there for so many years.

“Speaking about this win has been almost the easiest job I’ve ever had for postrace celebrations. But it’s still for me a lot of work. I get worn out pretty easily. I’m very introverted. So to do this for three days straight, it’s been a lot.”

Though he is terrified of heights, touring the top of the Empire State Building for the first time was a major highlight (and produced the tour’s most viral moment).

“I was scared to get to the very top level,” Newgarden said. “That thing was swaying. No one else thought it was swaying. I’m pretty sure it was. I really impressed by the facility. I’d never seen it before. It’s one of those bucket list things. If you go to New York, it’s really special to do that. So to be there with the wreath and the whole setup, it just felt like an honor to be in that moment.”

Now the attention shifts to Detroit and an inaugural circuit that’s expected to be challenging. Along with a Jefferson Avenue straightaway that’s 0.9 miles long, the track has several low-speed corners and a “split” pit lane (teams will stop on both sides of a rectangular area) with a narrow exit that blends just before a 90-degree lefthand turn into Turn 1.

Newgarden thinks the track is most similar to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

“It’s really hard to predict with this stuff until we actually run,” he said. “Maybe we go super smooth and have no issues. Typically when you have a new event, you’re going to have some teething issues. That’s understandable. We’ve always got to massage the event to get it where we want it, but this team has worked pretty hard. They’ve tried to get feedback constantly on what are we doing right, what do we need to look out for. They’ve done a ton of grinding to make sure this surface is in as good of shape as possible.

“There’s been no expense spared, but you can’t foresee everything. I have no idea how it’s going to race. I think typically when you look at a circuit that seems simple on paper, people tend to think it’s not going to be an exciting race, or challenging. I find the opposite always happens when we think that way. Watch it be the most exciting, chaotic, entertaining race.

Newgarden won the last two pole positions at Belle Isle’s 2.35-mile layout and hopes to continue the momentum while avoiding any post-Brickyard letdown.

“I love this is an opportunity for us to get something right quicker than anyone else,” he said. “A new track is always exciting from that standpoint. I feel I’m in a different spot. I’m pretty run down. I’m really trying to refocus and gain some energy back for tomorrow. Which I’ll have time to today, which is great.

“I don’t want that Indy 500 hangover. People always talk about it. They’ve always observed it. That doesn’t mean we have to win this weekend, but I’d like to leave here feeling like we had a really complete event, did a good job and had a solid finish leading into the summer. I want to win everywhere I go, but if we come out of here with a solid result and no mistakes, then probably everyone will be happy with it.”