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Alyssa Roenigk ESPN
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- Alyssa Roenigk is a senior writer for ESPN whose assignments have taken her across six continents and prompted her to countless reckless acts. (Follow @alyroe on Twitter).
Pro rally driver Ken Block, the co-founder of Hoonigan and DC Shoes who revolutionized action sports marketing and motorsport filmmaking, died Monday in a snowmobile accident near his Utah home. He was 55.
Hoonigan Industries confirmed Block’s death in a statement posted to its social media channels.
“It is with deepest regret that we can confirm that Ken Block died in a snowmobile accident today,” the statement said. “Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And above all a father and husband. He will be missed beyond belief.”
Block co-founded skateboard brand DC Shoes in 1984. After selling the company in 2004, Block famously transitioned from marketing director to one of motorsport’s most recognizable names. Just five years after getting behind the wheel of a rally car, he became a podium threat at World Rally and Rally America and a five-time X Games medalist at RallyCross.
In 2008, Block posted the first of 10 Gymkhana videos on YouTube, in which he performed stunts, floated and creatively interacted with his surroundings, and nearly destroyed the internet. Over a billion views later, his Hoonigan YouTube channel became the most popular in motorsport history.
“Ken was a legend in his ability to turn vision into reality. He created an industry,” Steve Arpin, Block’s teammate in the Nitro RallyCross series, told ESPN. “But if you were lucky enough to know him, the best of Ken came out. He treated his friends like gold and created opportunities for anyone who wanted to contribute. He was everything this world needed more and just happened to do a lot of really cool stuff on the side.”
An avid action sports enthusiast, Block was an industry ambassador and family man, competing in the 2022 American Rally Association Championship alongside his wife Lucy and their 16-year-old daughter Lia.
“This year Ken has been so happy. At the races, he was happy to race with Lucy and have his daughter race and have his kids with him at most races,” action sports icon Travis Pastrana told ESPN. “Few people get to the point in their lives where it all comes together, and when it’s all taken away like that, it’s devastating.”