The man who changed the (car) world

What do Lewis Hamilton, Akio Toyoda, Vin Diesel and Elon Musk have in common? They’ve all had a role influencing car culture in the 21st century – but one name arguably had a greater influence than all of them.

Ken Block, the skateboarding businessman that launched a second-career in motorsport, is perhaps the most impactful individual in terms of shaping not only what we drive but also what we watch, how we watch it and the entire automotive car culture.

It’s difficult to define exactly what impact Block left on the world, but a new exhibition dedicated to his life tries to do just that. ‘People’s Champ: The Impact of Ken Block’ is an exhibition at The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles that will run until October this year. Torquecafe recently had the opportunity to visit The Petersen and take in the exhibit and if its goal is to showcase his impact on the sport and the wider automotive community it has succeeded.

It’s hard to distill anyone’s life into a single room, and yet The Petersen and the team that curated the collection did a remarkable job of defining who Block was and, more importantly, the way he shaped modern automotive culture.

Block was already a successful businessman before he even started his motorsport career, as the co-founder of the DC Shoes clothing and shoe brand. But while he clearly loved skating and snowboarding, he also had a life-long love of rallying, particularly the Group B era of the 1980s.

So, inspired by this, he decided to give rallying a go at the age of 38 and immediately won the American rally championship’s Rookie of the Year award. But while the competition was enjoyable, Block couldn’t leave his creative side alone and brought the kind of savvy, unorthodox marketing ideas that made DC Shoes a success to the world of cars.

When he released his first ‘Gymkhana’ video in 2008 he went from little-known-rally-driver to internet superstar almost overnight. He would spend the rest of his life making Gymkhana films and their spin-offs, finishing with the posthumously released Electrikhana Two.

The difference between the two cars he drove in the first Gymkhana to the last Electrikhana underlines just how far the concept had come. The initial video featured a lightly modified Subaru Impreza WRX STi that Block had built by a small racing team, whereas the one-of-a-kind Audi S1 Hoonitron was a factory-developed $12m purpose-built creation. But Audi was happy to invest such large sums of money to partner with Block because of the amount of attention he brought to any brand he was associated with.

The Hoonitron is on display at The Petersen alongside an amazing collection of his other cars. These include that first Subaru, his 2008 Gymkhana Two Subaru, his 1986 Ford RS200 Evo road car, his 2016 Ford Focus RS RX rallycross and Gymkhana Nine vehicle and, perhaps his most famous car, the 1965 Ford Mustang Hoonicorn from Gymkhana Seven.

Across the walls of the exhibit space are the stories and videos that explain the wider impact of Block’s racing and automotive creations. These include the launch of his Hoonigan brand, the first mainstream clothing and culture brand inspired by automotive culture, in the same way DC Shoes represented skateboarding and Quiksilver targeted surfing.

Unfortunately, Hoonigan was sold in 2021 to a third party and immediately took a turn for the worse and has struggled for relevance without Block as its frontman and leader. But Block’s legacy is living on thanks to the creation of the 43 Institute (named for his racing number), which was set up after his death to create opportunities for “highly driven motivated misfits” to achieve their dreams in motorsport, action sports or creative arts.

That legacy lives on already with his children already competing in various forms of motorsport, most notably his eldest daughter, Lia, who is part of the Williams driver development program and competes in F1 Academy.