In the international motorsport arena nobody’s cooler – or more influential – than American rally driver and DC Shoes co-founder, Ken Block. A laidback individual harking from Long Beach, California, Mr. Block recently rose to motoring infamy after his gymkhana stunt videos wowed the world’s YouTube community with some of the most inspired driving performances ever to be captured on film. Quickly becoming a household name after generating more than 30-million views, the online phenomenon last year caught the attention of Motown giant, Ford, who offered him the chance to compete in selected rounds of the prestigious 2010 World Rally Championship that kicked off in February and runs until November. Sometimes on a plane but normally found sliding through corners sideways in his Focus RS, I managed to tie the hectic 42-year-old down for a twenty-minute conversation where we discussed everything from rally racing, music, life on the road and even a brief stint in the slammer.

Ken, you’ve competed professionally in extreme sports like skateboarding and motocross; how did you get into rally racing?

I’ve been a fan of rallying ever since I was a kid. I was never into all the popular forms of American motorsport, as I just couldn’t get excited about cars that went around in circles or only went straight. So when I first saw rallying, the way that the cars jumped, slid and battled against the elements inspired and entertained me. Suffice to say when I was a teenager and first got my hands on my parents’ car keys, I went out and tried to emulate this type of driving style in their cars. Eventually I actually ended up in jail at one point because I got into trouble after jumping one of my own cars! I guess that just like snowboarding and motocross, both of which I grew up doing, rallying is something I’ve always loved and wanted to pursue.

When was your big rallying break and who was your chief mentor?

How I got into rally is probably the most unique thing. I never knew it even existed here in America until Travis Pastrana (a multi X-Game gold medal winner) got a deal in 2004 to go out and do a couple of local rallies. Now because I was a big fan of Travis at the time, his participation woke me up to the fact that I could actually fulfill one of my dreams here at home without having to jet off to Europe. So later that same year I joined a rally school through the same team Travis was racing for at the time and did really well. This inspired me to go out and do some rally races where I experienced similar success. So yeah, that’s basically how my whole career took off. My biggest mentors in the beginning was a man named John Buffum – one of the winningest national level rally drivers in the world – who was a big help to both Travis and myself when we were busy getting started.

Your gymkhana videos that exploded across the Web have been a phenomenal success; what inspired you to go ahead with this project?

Well back in 2007 I got interested in doing a few gymkhana events here in Southern California and consequently decided to build a specialised car for use in this series. Unfortunately by the time it was finished the guy who was in charge of everything quit, so I had this amazing car built but nowhere to actually compete with it. So we decided to visit one of the places where I had previously done a gymkhana event – the El Toro airfield – and film a bunch of practice and test sessions with the car. After shooting we got the footage back and it was so good that we made a final video clip and posted it online. Now I always thought it would be pretty well received but I only figured it would maybe get a couple hundred thousand or a million views. Today we’ve hit about 30 million, which is ridiculous! I’m really proud of it and it was an amazing thing to do, but it definitely caught me by surprise.

Do you think the success of the gymkhana video series attributed to your recent move into the World Rally Championship?

I would have to say yes. You know before that I was just a national level competitor competing alongside Travis Pastrana but the notoriety that came from making those videos really made my sponsors very happy and made new sponsors like Ford potentially interested in me. And actually that helped a lot as far as getting the deals that I know have for me to race in the WRC.

Being a rally driver who often travels between America and Europe must be taxing on the system; how do you cope with life on the road?

Well it’s hard to complain when I get to race and have a good time but there’s still a massive of pressure to perform at the highest level. And this is a very hard to do that when you’re jumping off a plane in a different time zone and trying to get you body acclimated, up to speed and adjusted to a new car setup. It’s a challenge and all I can say is that I work hard to be in the best shape, eat the best food and stay at the right level to compete. I’m really looking forward to next year when I’m doing the full WRC championship and can base myself permanently in Europe and not have to have bounce around the rest of the world quite so much.

I’ve only ever seen you behind the wheel of a Subaru Impreza STI or a Ford Focus RS; what car do you actually own?

Well I still own several of the Imprezas that I’ve used in my various events. I have both my gymkhana cars and the one that I used to jump 171-feet in. On top of that my daily driver right now consists of a Ford F-150 truck. I also have a Mercedes-Benz CLS 55 that I’ve had for several years. It’s flat black, um, and unfortunately been in the body shop for over a month now being repaired. There’s also a bright green Ford Focus RS on its way over from Europe. They don’t sell this car in America but Ford has been able to import me one. It’s a beautiful machine and I can’t wait to have it.

What’s your favourite music to drive to outside of your rally car?

Yeah, that’s a tough one. Right now it would have to be both the most recent Jay-Z and Killers albums. I also like the new Gorillaz and I’m a massive fan of Kid Cudi’s Man On The Moon: End Of Day.

I hear that you and your DC Shoes colleagues competed in the Gumball 3000 – what is this event actually like? I’ve heard some crazy stories…

The Gumball 3000 is a fun event and we enjoyed doing – once. The thing is you can drive it fairly mellow and enjoy the whole occasion but of course, once you get behind the wheel of a high horsepower car with a bunch of other lunatics, the laws of the road tend to go out the window. You know I’ve hit some really high speeds during the Gumball and done some stupid, lawless type driving. Of course it was fun for a couple of days and I really enjoyed it but now that I’m a professional driver getting my thrills in real racing events, the thought of going back to do another one really scares me!

What would you be doing if you weren’t a professional Rally driver?

Probably spend a lot more time with my great wife and two little girls who I sometimes don’t see for weeks. Besides that I would be a lot more involved back at DC Shoes in doing the job that I do there, which is helping on the creative side of marketing and product development.

Do have any advice aspiring young racing drivers?

Take as much schooling as you possibly can because there’s only so much you can learn yourself and a lot of the best techniques can be learnt from a really good teacher. It’s also essential to start your career at the bottom where you can waste the least amount money but gain the most experience. Motorsport is all about the driver: you can spend a ton of money but when you come up against guys with more experience you’ll be blown away. Something I’ve focused a lot in my career is learning and observing as much as possible from every tier of motorsport so that I be the best driver I can be.

What can we expect from Ken Block in 2011 and beyond?

I basically plan on focusing as much energy as possible on the WRC. My goal in the long term is to be one of the top-level drivers in the biggest rally championship in the world and I’m pushing very hard to make that a reality. I already have most of my deals setup for next year, so pretty much for sure I’m going to be there, but I want to do it in the biggest, best way possible. On top of this I also most definitely plan to continue with the gymkhana videos and gymkhana type driving as much as my time permits.

[ALL PICS: Monster World Rally Team]