X Games standout set to alter course

Before Travis Pastrana steers into a new form of racing, he has a few jumps to get out of the way.

Pastrana, an 11-time X Games gold medalist and popular freestyle motorcycle expert, has had to slow his drive into NASCAR because of his commitment to develop and perform in tonight's extreme action sports Nitro Circus Live show at the MGM Grand Garden.

The show is a cornerstone of the 3-D Nitro Circus movie he is helping to produce, scheduled for release in February as a bigger version of the popular MTV show.

If racing a stock car around an oval for a few hours at 180 mph seems risky, then what Pastrana and his buddies will attempt at the MGM, where they will start atop a 50-foot ramp, is off the charts.

The 27-year-old Pastrana and three other Nitro Circus riders will fly down the 50-foot Giganta ramp and hope to complete double backflips while handlebar to handlebar. Only three riders have ever completed it solo.

Pastrana is also planning a double backflip twist on a bicycle.

That's how he has always rolled -- and flown.

"The plan is ridiculous," he said of the four-man jump.

Pastrana certainly understands ridiculous.

In 1999, at age 15, he gained international notoriety after winning an X Games medal by jumping his motorcycle into the San Francisco Bay.

Ten years later, on New Year's Eve, he jumped a rally car 269 feet from pier to barge in Long Beach, Calif.

He once jumped from a plane without a parachute, confident a skydiver would catch him.

This week, Pastrana BASE jumped from the top of Signature Tower at the MGM, and he is scheduled for a ramp-to-ramp jump over 75 feet at 10:30 a.m. today at the hotel.

"For me, it's always been about pushing myself and realizing what's possible," said Pastrana, a native of Annapolis, Md. "I'm more scared about failure than injury.

"That's where the nerves come from."

Seeking a safer motor sports career, and one in which a 27-year-old competitor isn't considered a relic, Pastrana partnered with Sprint Cup team owner Michael Waltrip this year to create Pastrana-Waltrip Racing.

The rigors of Nitro Circus, including recent shows in Australia, have prevented Pastrana from shifting to NASCAR full time.

After placing sixth in a regional NASCAR race in late January in Irwindale, Calif., he was disappointed to finish no better than 25th in three NASCAR K&N regional races. Pastrana hopes to get more tuneups in the series before his July 30 debut in the Nationwide Series in Clermont, Ind.

"I need to do as much as possible before then," he said. "I've been struggling a little bit since Irwindale."

He plans to race in as many as seven Nationwide events this season and next year hopes to compete March 5 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR isn't a passing fad for Pastrana.

"The stock car stuff is a challenge," he said.

Overcoming fear, however, isn't a challenge.

"When we get hurt, we need surgery," Pastrana said of action sports mishaps. "When you're in a car, you feel safer and you put in a little extra. But in car racing, everyone is willing to push that extra little bit.

"If you crash (in NASCAR), it's going to be expensive, but it's not likely you're going to get hurt."

He understands NASCAR isn't a one-man competition.

"If I don't make it in NASCAR, it's going to be because I wasn't good enough, and not because I didn't put all I had behind it and didn't try," he said.

If Pastrana doesn't make it as a racer, he can always make money jumping over stuff before races.

Contact reporter Jeff Wolf at jwolf@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0247.