Reasons to dislike the "sk8er, hipster..etc" invasion of racing...

[RacingManiac]

The Case Of The Purloined Gymkhana | The Truth About Cars (http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2011/10/the-case-of-the-purloined-gymkhana/#more-414217)

I was more or less neutral. The way I see it if Block, Pastrana or other X-game crowd that brings their fan with them to racing. At least it brings money and publicity to racing, and maybe more TV times and sponsorship, and everyone wins. But story like that just makes me feel annoyed....they heavily marketing-centric shoe and sportswear and energy drink and whathaveyou salesman just waltz in and used the word that they found in the dictionary and decide to stop everyone else from using it? Give me a break....

Yes, this is my "get off my lawn" moment...

[pimento]

The fact that they tried to trademark a dictionary defined word over such a generic spectrum of use is totally ridiculous, good thing it got thrown out initially at least. Hopefully the clothing application will be too, it'll be a serious failure of the system if it's allowed.

[f6fhellcat13]

This seems no different than any of the other bull**** that chasing sponsorship and the corporatization of racing brings. I am no big fan of the flat-brimmed cap crowd and all but they are no more annoying than arrogant tifosi or anally-retentive Porschephiles can be, though I'm not saying that being a tifoso or a Porschephile requires either of those things. ;)

As an aside; though they are less the energy-drink-and-Ken-Block crowd, I have seen many very nice bikes and hot rods built by skaters.

[NSXType-R]

I never liked Travis Pastrana or Ken Block because they try so hard to pound their brands into your head that I get a headache. The first Gymkhana video wasn't so bad.

The following ones, I thought were just generic videos.

Also, they're not great rally drivers either, so I fail to see why I should even follow them.

A conversation I had with a friend summed it up well- Monster drinks don't taste all that great. The can draws you in though.

[RacingManiac]

This seems no different than any of the other bull**** that chasing sponsorship and the corporatization of racing brings. I am no big fan of the flat-brimmed cap crowd and all but they are no more annoying than arrogant tifosi or anally-retentive Porschephiles can be, though I'm not saying that being a tifoso or a Porschephile requires either of those things. ;)


Thing is, Tifosi or Porschephile don't come into a sport thats new to them(say, Alonso takes up skateboarding and made a cool vid of them doing it on a halfpipe), and then try to say they own the genre of sport....and go around a register "half-pipe" as a trademark or something....

Racing/Rallying/Motorsport has been there before the "cool kids" realized its cool, and it'll be here long after their ADD kicks in and find the next shiny new object...


*pumps shotgun* "Get off my lawn"....

[RacingManiac]

Side note, Pastrana at least has at least the realization that he is merely a big fish in a small pond, and while he did well enough in that small pond(won Rally American Championship), he is not about to embarrass himself on international stage. Block made cool video, competed in Rally America, never won the title, and just bring his bags of money to WRC and made a fool of himself weeks in and weeks out...

[csl177]

Lawyers on retainer will do anything, too bad mostly it's bullshit when it comes to corporate fantasies. :rolleyes:

Etymology is a fascinating pursuit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gymkhana


PS: I hate the entire X-Games copping to marketing over substance. Too bad, but it's happened to every sport.

[Ferrer]

As RM says, at least Rallying can fight back by making those kids look like the pathetic drivers they are.

I'd like to see them in a 70's round of the world championship...

[pimento]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0iwKJe7zRI

[whiteballz]

Side note, Pastrana at least has at least the realization that he is merely a big fish in a small pond, and while he did well enough in that small pond(won Rally American Championship), he is not about to embarrass himself on international stage. Block made cool video, competed in Rally America, never won the title, and just bring his bags of money to WRC and made a fool of himself weeks in and weeks out...

Would like to make a small note to your last point.

Ken Block + WRC + Sponsorship = Higher exposure and sales for his DC clothing company.

He's a guy with the money and the passion to do something he enjoys while benefiting the company he built from the ground up. I hold nothing against him for what he does, as I would do the exact same in his shoes.

[Cobrafan427]

Side note, Pastrana at least has at least the realization that he is merely a big fish in a small pond, and while he did well enough in that small pond(won Rally American Championship), he is not about to embarrass himself on international stage. Block made cool video, competed in Rally America, never won the title, and just bring his bags of money to WRC and made a fool of himself weeks in and weeks out...

Here's a vid of him wrecking again in Spain lol. He claims the dust was too bad but you can see from the onboard that the road's clear ahead oh him. His clip starts at 3:47

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYZXEL8RHaM&feature=uploademail

[Matra et Alpine]

know it's old news but re the claim to use gymkhana in motorsport, it's definately a little late.
Found this :) Check out at 1min 23s
Scottish Screen Archive - Full record for 'SCOTTISH SPORTING CAR CLUB' (http://ssa.nls.uk/film.cfm?fid=7350)