Hanson’s X Games Rollover & Partnership with Autostream
Latest News, Rally AmericaAug 12, 2010
Photo Credit: Franz Diebold
Traverse City, MI — Rally car driver Travis Hanson arrived in Los Angeles for his X Games appearance without the massive fan-fare that factory backed, well known stars like Travis Pastrana, Ken Block, and Brian Deegan receive. Hanson would leave Los Angeles with a taste of fame.
Although he did not medal he stunned fellow competitors and fans around the world with his third fastest qualification time against cars twice as fast as his own Subaru STi. Hanson’s car was actually the heaviest and most underpowered competing at the X Games. His Subaru is a Super Production car meant to compete in traditional stage rally, not the rallycross style events at this years X Games. Other than suspension and a roll cage his car is almost the same as a Subaru anyone can buy at a local dealership.
Photo Credit: Aaron Pierce
Pushing as the underdog during qualification, Hanson actually wrecked the front of his car into a barrier, cracking his radiator on this excellent qualifying run. Needless to say, there was lots of excitement when he beat nine of his fellow competitors in much more powerful cars and then quickly had to fix the car in order to continue. Because of his excellent seeding time, Hanson automatically advanced past an elimination round to the quarterfinals. Where he went head to head against Canadian driver Andrew Comrie-Picard in a close fought battle. Even though Hanson suffered engine trouble, which gave him a scare on the70 foot jump, he kept a tight race.
However, Hanson caught a rut while sliding through the downhill hairpin of the course and rolled his car in a spectacular fashion, landing on his tires in a cloud of dust. Hanson was the first car to roll in the X Games Rally Car Racing since the late, great Colin McRae did back in 2006, in the same body style Subaru.
Photo Credit: Aaron Pierce
Despite the roll Hanson has received lots of publicity and support. The Autostream (http://autostream.com/) online media network, which produces online shows like Fast Lane Daily (http://www.vodcars.com/fastlanedaily) and The Smoking Tire (http://www.thesmokingtire.com/), purchased the wrecked hood of Hanson’s Subaru to use as a white board in their West Coast office.
Hanson competes on a tight budget that is mostly composed of his own finances and fan support. In fact he was the only X Games competitor to put his fan’s names on the side of his car. Other sponsors such as Exedy, Import Image Racing, Braid wheels, BFGoodrich Tires, Broken Motorsports, Team Illuminata, and the M-22 clothing company out of Michigan all helped to send Hanson to the X Games this year. “Without the support of our fans and sponsors we would have never made it to X games. I am forever grateful to all who helped my team,” explained Travis.
Photo Credit: Franz Diebold
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