Travis Pastrana
People that have a lot of fear or over-rationalize things will never push themselves far enough.
I don't get out much.
People like to see a good crash, but they like to see that person get back up... and land it.
In motocross, you can jump further, you can wheelie into a set of whoops; in freestyle, if you have a trick everyone's kind of thinking about but no one has the guts to try, you can still go for it. You might crash, but that's how you win.
Most people in our field are very overconfident, so you always believe you can do more than you can. But the fear is what makes it exciting, what keeps you on your toes. People that are truly fearless, they'll be hurt before they ever get good enough to do it.
I feel honoured to be part of Red Bull and the stunts they put on.
When the 2006 freestyle season started, my focus had shifted to rally racing. It was my second season driving rally cars, and I was determined to win the title. Unfortunately, that meant freestyle was getting even less of my attention.
In the 10 years I've been involved in freestyle, I've obviously had a lot of fun. The competitions are a blast, and I look forward to them all year.
I do enjoy a beer. Beer is good.
I love salmon, and I love my sushi.
I love my 1980s hair bands.
I start off everyday with a smoothie and oatmeal, which always gets me going a little bit.
My dad is the one who can't even watch me practice.
I don't like team sports.
For my friends and I, we all wanted to be action sports stars. Luckily for us, we somehow missed the real world reality that sets in for most teenagers.
My greatest asset and my greatest weakness is my passion, and once I start something, I don't like to stop until I'm either the best or I'm sure I can't be the best.
Red Bull has been just awesome every year in kind of letting their athletes pick some stuff they want to do and make the impossible possible.
That's how our sports progress, is you keep innovating.
I've been able to chase my dreams and do exactly what I've loved to do every day.
I take more chances than most people because I believe they will work.
I've always loved racing; competition is what always drove me.
Look, given the opportunity to drive an IndyCar, I'd be an idiot to turn it down.
I think that my strengths are driving when everything's a little out of control.
Any injury that keeps you away from doing what you love doing is a bad injury.
I think someone that won the Olympics in snowboarding but didn't win X Games would feel like their career was incomplete.
I definitely love action movies for sure.
Every trick that's going to be done on X Games is probably going to be done first on a 'Nitro Live' tour.
I found out fairly early that I was extremely durable.
It's something that's a requirement of action sports. There are some people who are very talented but if you can't fall well, you will never make it in these sports.
Team sports are fun but you have to rely on a lot of other people.
I'm very fortunate to have the lifestyle I do.
Very few people are great at a single sport.
NASCAR is something that challenges me.
Any time you can team up with someone you've worked well with in the past, there's obviously a level of comfort there.
If it had a motor and it had wheels, I was driving it from a very young age.
I had a lot of competition growing up. Older cousins, younger cousins, they were all athletes. But I couldn't throw, I couldn't catch, I couldn't tackle... Bikes were my outlet. It was the only thing where I didn't have to be stronger. I could twist the throttle, I could take more risks, and I realized I was extremely durable.
Well, as a racer, you always believe you can win - and when you don't, it's a failure.
You know, it's funny, but all the people I looked up to and always admired were all racers.
I've been superstitious at times in the past and figured out that you could do everything wrong and still figure out a way to win or do everything right and still figure out a way to lose.
Dad always scrapbooked everything. There's piles of scrapbooks. You know, even when you were an amateur coming up on dirt bikes - if you'd get a half-page ad or something, it was a huge deal! Or if you got something in a magazine like Racer X or something.
You know, there's a lot of kids who come up and go, 'Gimme, gimme, gimme!' But it's the fans who come week in and week out who you see at more than one race that you remember.
Any racer who has made it to the top of wherever they are, it's really hard because the sport defines you.
There's only one person I ever wrecked on purpose, and that was when I was 14. It was at the Maryland Amateur Nationals. I got disqualified for controlling the outcome of the race.
My whole life I was always an athlete with motocross. It's a very athletic sport, very physical.
In the States you have to be really, really on your game. We have so much media and sports and entertainment that you have to really impress; you have to do something that's never been done before.
As a racer, I've always felt like a racer.
It looks like fun and games on the outside, but everyone that has ever been to the top of any sport knows how much work it takes to get there, and I'm willing to put in that work, and it's not going to be overnight.
One of the most difficult parts of recovery for me is achieving restful sleep.
In life, you're along for the ride either way. You might as well make it fun!Collection: Fun