The beauty of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in October enhanced the Block/Gelsomino victory last weekend. (Lars Gange/Subaru photo)
» More Photos
Still, championships are won by recognizing winnin’ time and, at that moment, converting your hand into THE pot winner. Curiously, there’s a song on the DC Shoes website that’s from a Schoolhouse Rock jingle, believe it or not, called Figure Eight. The lines goes: “If you skate upon thin ice/You'd be wise if you thought twice/Before you made another single move.”
Rallying fast enough to win is a thin-ice issue. At those speeds, you need to think twice before making some moves. Not everything is instinctive. Some things involve wisdom, especially in the face of winnin’ time.
If he had to, would that be how Ken would describe Ken Block?
“Yeah, if I had to,” Block said with a sigh. “I like to break things down to goals and objectives and why you’re into something or not into something from business to my personal life to racing. It’s been a focus of mine to look at why I’m doing it.”
He told me he’s been a fan of rally since I was a little kid. When I got in and took some lessons, I realized I had a descent amount of natural talent. I knew if I worked pretty hard at it, maybe I could go farther than I expected and that’s really what happened.
“I don’t look at it as a second career. I look at it as an activity that I’ve been a fan of since I was a little kid. I’ve got a great opportunity with great sponsors and I’m doing it my hardest trying to be the best I can be.”
That’s Ken. As an observer, I’d imagine that if you went to a shelf to pull down the parts to make another Ken Block, focus and passion would be the first two elements you’d need. Everything else emerges from them. And that’s the way he drives. Focused and passionately. One day he’ll recognize winnin’ time and what he does with that moment will tell you if he’ll ever be a rally champion.
Curiously, his passion for rallying “came
in the early to mid ’90s.” In between skateboarding and bike riding he fell in love with the WRC Group B evolution Audis, Lancias, Peugeots and the like with the body kits and wings and the areyoukiddingme speed! There was a time when Ken’s dad wanted him to sharpen his pitching, switch hitting and first baseman skills to pursue baseball. However, the coach that cut him from the local Pony League team in Long Beach launched another reality entirely.
“Rallying is unique, being out on the roads and the countryside,” he notes. “We just finished a race in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which, at this time of the year, is absolutely beautiful. I get to see places and settings that I wouldn’t get to see, and I really enjoy that.”
That can happen on a skateboard or bike. Touching and experiencing life and tasting its possibilities can trigger passions that the unaware and inexperienced may never know. It’s like being on thin ice and having the wisdom to think twice before the next move. Like the song says, putting the figure eight on its side can reflect infinite possibilities.
Ken Block is experiencing that in business and play. You might say his business IS play and he’s winning at both, whether he wins a formal championship or not.
