Over the last decade, Travis Pastrana has become one of the biggest names in the action sports world and in 2012 the 30-year-old decided to take his career in a new direction. Sure, for years he raced moto and rallycross, but those were never anything quite like the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
But after two difficult years racing in the series, Pastrana had to make the tough decision to call it quits, taking to his Facebook account on Monday to let fans, friends and teammates at Roush Fenway Racing know firsthand before the news broke. Here’s what the Maryland native had to say:
This past season of NASCAR has been an awesome experience. I have made a lot of great friends, had a lot of fun and gained a new appreciation for all aspects of this sport. Jack Roush and everyone at Roush Fenway Racing have gone above and beyond to try and help me succeed and I am truly grateful for their support. I would like to thank them and all of the other people who stuck behind me during the last two years as I tried to learn how to make a successful career in NASCAR. Its tough to step back now and prove the critics were right, but unfortunately my results were not good enough to get the sponsors I needed to appropriately fund next season.
My wife Lyn-z has been more then supportive of my foray into NASCAR, often times being my biggest source of encouragement and support. But as my wife had to take a step back from being a professional skater to let me chase my goals in racing, I too need to take a step back and look at my situation as a father and husband. The NASCAR schedule is grueling and takes enormous sacrifices from those you love to make work. With a lack of funding next year, now is my opportunity to sit back and offer support as she chases her goals.
I hate to quit and I hate to fail, but sometimes things work out as they should. I’ve never been able to figure out the finesse required in pavement racing and that is disappointing, but I’m looking forward to driving more rally and racing more off-road trucks and there will be some announcements on those fronts shortly! My wife is excited to get back to skating on the Nitro Circus Live Tour and I’m excited to spend some quality time with my girls.
Thank you to all my fans for the support and I hope to see each of you at an event in the near future.
The decision was not an easy one, as it came after just his first full season in the Nationwide Series – a season in which Pastrana funded a large portion of his efforts with the help of longtime sponsor Red Bull. However, the failure likely won’t slow him down, as he’s one of the busiest men in sports.
On Sunday Pastrana and his family will fly to Europe to join the Nitro Circus Live crew on tour, which will bring their high flying, high octane stunts to North America early next year. The live tour continues to gain popularity, with more than triple the amount of tours as last year. The tour, time with his family and his action sports endeavors will take up most of Pastrana’s time for the next year, but we have to imagine there will be another big endeavor in his future. We wouldn’t expect anything less.
Ed Miller is a contributor for CraveOnline Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @PhillyEdMiller or “like” CraveOnline Sports on Facebook.
