Travis Alan Pastrana

Travis Pastrana (Google)

Travis was born on October 8, 1983 in Annapolis, Maryland to Robert and Debby Pastrana. He started racing dirt bikes in 1998 and won the 2000 A.M.A 125cc champion ships. After that he moved up to 250cc and got noticed going fast through jump combinations. Travis only rode Suzuki bikes. He only uses the riding number 199. He even sponsored The Pastrana 199 monster truck.

In 2003 Travis started racing rally cars. He was signed by Subaru to lead their team. He won the gold medal in 2006, his first Subaru championship. After winning almost all the 2006 races, Subaru wanted to save Travis for the next year's championships. But 2007 was a downfall for the rally (Group N) class. Travis quickly said "This season has gone terribly wrong” after coming in thirteenth place in the Acropolis rally.

Travis Pastrana has had many injuries during his career. He said that he’s had so many injuries he forgot about most of them. These left him out of the fun and in the hospital for more than 3 weeks to a month at a time. He has been through surgery over twenty times in his life. He also dislocated his spine from his pelvis when he was only 14, and fully recovered.

Travis was a strong driver, he overcame many injuries and he still drives. He even set world records jumping his rally car. He also set the fastest Mount Washington rally record. He tried back flipping his Pastrana 199 monster truck but failed and walked away with no injuries. Later, one of Travis’s drivers back flipped the truck during a competition which set the record for the first to back flip in a monster truck.

I think Travis Pastrana is a good example because he shows how to go the limits to meet your goals. He shows me that if you try at what you want to do you can do it and make the best of it. I picked him to be my hero because I want to live like him and have money like him by doing the things I love. I think having a hero is good because it’s almost like having a goal for what and who you want to be. Travis Pastrana met his dream and made the best of it, like I want to do.