Ken Block – 1967-2023

During the 2nd of January, 2023, in the snowy wilds of Utah, automotive legend Ken Block was taken from us. A freak accident which, as we understand it, involved a terrible incident with a snowmobile attempting to make too steep of a grade, extinguished the once blindingly bright light that was the life of Ken Block. At just 55, there is no argument that it’s too soon to be taken away. But while the tragedy is indeed devastating to the automotive world, there is no way anyone can say Mr. Block didn’t live those 55 years at absolute, unrelenting, never-lifting, full throttle. And he wasn’t doing it for him. He did it for us, the enthusiasts. He wanted us to share in his adventures. That’s who he was.

It’s easy to think of Block and think of the incredible Gymkhana videos. In this series, the stunts, the cinematography and the legal permissions got increasingly bigger. What do we mean? Well, Block and his team had the power to – over the course of the Gymkhana series – secure San Francisco, Los Angeles, London, Dubai, Hollywood and even Las Vegas as his own personal playgrounds. These videos were ostensibly adverts for either manufacturers, or for Block’s own DC Shoes line which he co-founded, but the delivery of any commercial element was either at the start and brief, or in greater detail at the end of the video and the action. Ken wanted to entertain first, and maybe make some sales off the back of it. He didn’t make content to just sell, he made content to make people happy. He lived to engage, to motivate and to excite. He delighted in the amazing, in pushing what could be done with a car, in juxtaposing the screeching, tyre-spinning vision of a world rally car against the Golden Gate Bridge, for example.

And he liked a classic, too. Yes, he made a recent shift into sliding about in an electric Audi with a ludicrous amount of power, but he also built the Hoonicorn – a spaceframe ’60s Ford Mustang with 1,400bhp. He had his Escort RS Cosworth, there was the recent classic Porsche 911, the Mk2 Ford Escort, the RS200, the Ford F-150, the… you get the idea. Block loved some classic metal. He was, most definitely, one of us. And he used them in serious anger, too. Just as they should be. You might well remember the Hoonicorn from that episode of Top Gear in which it was seen sliding around London. Brilliant telly.

He wasn’t just born with those tyre-shredding skills, though. Block was a racer, a proper, full-on, real life racer. He started in 2005 behind the wheel of a Subaru, it raced in Rally America, in Global Rally Cross, the World Rally Championship and of course, the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Was he always a winner? No, actually, but that wasn’t the point. He took his fair share of wins over the many disciplines in which he spun tyres in anger, but he was never a champion. He was, however, a walking, talking beacon for any event he was at. He brought personality back to motorsport. A ‘yeah dude’ attitude, a smile, a story, a bit of… soul. Against the increasingly stagnant and dull backdrop of, say, the WRC, this was welcome. It gave people something, someone to connect with. He brought people into the sport by being… Ken Block. That was powerful.

But maybe it was always to be expected? Ken was one of life’s good guys. And that’s not obligatory posthumous flattery. We’ve met him on event in Portugal during the WRC, our Editor put him on the cover of Performance Ford Magazine back in the day, and as such we know first hand that Ken was a guy who lived for every moment, and came even more alive if he could make your day. He was a rare soul. The centre of attention for everyone, except himself. For him, it was you, the person he was engaging with, who was the centre of attention.

And then you have his other contributions. The hugely successful Hoonigan platform, his own YouTube content, his builds, his unending generosity within those things. He recently bought his daughter, Lia, an Audi quattro Ur, which they restored and modified together. Prior to this, they built a fox body Mustang for her to drift in. And despite him being the star, he made the videos about Lia and her adventure. Generous to a fault, that man. He was one of life’s greats.

To be taken so suddenly, and in such an unexpected way is always going to make a person’s passing that much harder to swallow. And while the hurt right now for this loss is being felt around the world, there is perhaps a slice of solace in knowing that before he was taken so cruelly, he was living life to its fullest. And he wanted that for everyone else, he was never showing off, he was encouraging us, inspiring us, motivating you and I to go and grab life.

Rest in peace, Kenneth Paul Block. We’ll miss you.