Travis Pastrana isn’t afraid of any motorsport. Win, lose, or carried out on a stretcher with his thumb pointing up like a champ, he’s taken on a large share of motorsports in his years. His exploits with motorcycles is legendary, his rally career has been successful, and he even gave NASCAR a shot for a bit. Pastrana likes to try things out and to be successful at them, and with his career, you would think that a 24 Hours of Lemons race would be a bit plain for him. But is it really? It’s no rally car, and it’s a hell of a lot safer than putting him on his motorcycle and telling him to have fun (have you seen that man fly?!), but predicting what a “$500 car” can do when it’s cut loose in a field of beaters does seem a bit risky.
We want to say that they chose well for the event, but we’d be a touch off. Picking a GM G-body wasn’t a bad call. Picking a Chevrolet El Camino to run a roadcourse with, on the other hand, might not have been the most brilliant move. Nothing looks more composed flying into a corner like a tail-happy ute with a small block and a manual transmission swapped in, especially when the co-drivers are two wild partners in crime and your skateboarding royalty wife. Here’s the story of how this went down!