Driving Sports

In this the final installment of our three part Ken Block interview, Block discusses his new challenges, what it means for American Rally and his readiness to take on the World Rally Championship. Includes footage from the 2009 Olympus, Susquehannock and Oregon Trail rallies, plus travel back to Ken's first competitive year: 2005 and the Rim of the World rally in Palmdale, Calif., where he took third overall in a Group N STI.

Ryan Douthit, Driving Sports TV: This is Part 3 in our interview with Ken Block, driver for the Monster World Rally Team. Now, Ken, your first few years in Rally America were what many would call 'dream seasons' but last year was really tough. How did that shape your approach going into 2010?

Ken Block: That’s a very, very good question and obviously from the outside looking in – if you just look at the championship points, last year… sucked. But, as far as a driver goes, I actually drove, you know, the best rallies of my life last year. Just crazy shit happened to me. I was leading Olympus with a good lead and my turbo went. I was two seconds out of the lead at Oregon and I got a flat tire in the straight away and didn’t know it so I turned the car and it went straight. You know? Ah, I took my Escort out twice and it had problems both times. There’s stuff like that was really just unfortunate and that’s racing. I gotta deal with it. But when it went well, I felt like no one could touch me. And, I won a couple events and even – later in the year when I was racing the Super Production car, I was on the podium both times – even with the car having horrible problems.

Anyone that goes to these events and sees the commitment that I have on the stages knows and understands what I’m doing. But, if you just look at the result sheets, it was a crappy year. I’ll be the first to admit it. But, also, you know the past couple years I’ve really pushed to kind of best the best that I can in the car… push the limits of what I’m doing. I’m not scared to have an accident, and I’m not scared to push it and try and win, because, I’m trying to push myself mentally and physically to be the best that I can be. I’ve done those things and I’ve had a great time racing with Travis [Pastrana] and Antoine [L’Estage] and Tanner [Foust] and everybody, and this year going into this year, my mentality is definitely different. I’ve learned what I need to learn, I’m going to continue learning, but I’m also starting to look more objectively at the long-term objectives, which are winning Championships and getting myself to the right level in the WRC.

RD: Do you think 2010 is the year your finally kick Pastrana out of first place in the Rally America Championship Series?

KB: Ah, that’s a tough question. I can answer that after one or two rallies… see how I get along with the car. You know, I’m pretty confident. All the rallies we’re going to are all ones that I’ve done fairly well at. The one that I hate the most, Ojibwe, that I’ve crashed four out of the five years there, for whatever reason is off the schedule. So, I’m happy about that. Places like 100 Acre Wood, where I’ve won four years in a row, that’s the second event of the year. So, I’m feeling very confident. We have a great program and there’s going to be a lot of testing, so I’m really looking forward to getting into the car and doing my best. Travis is a great driver and I look forward to putting it to him this year.

RD: Last night I was reading in the WRC section on Facebook a group of very enthusiastic International WRC fans saying that you're not ready. How do you respond to that?

KB: Believe me, I’m right there with them. This first year, for me is complete development. It’s going to be about getting seat time. There’s very few people that jump into a WRC car and are competitive, unless they get a huge amount of seat time beforehand. In the past, various people like Marcus Grönholm, um, Petter and those guys actually got opportunities to drive WRC cars in their National Championships and that type of thing. Unfortunately for us here in America, that’s just never been even an option… remotely close to it. So, I’m jumping into a car with very little seat time and I’ll be in Mexico doing the best job I can. But, yeah, I expect to be in last place of all the WRC cars… that’s the reality of it. I know and understand that and I’m going to work hard, work on all the weaknesses I have such as Pace Notes, and try and get myself up to speed as fast as I possibly can.

Return to Part 1