Ken Block and Travis Pastrana Had Planned a Blowout Finale for the Next Gymkhana

Ken Block’s sudden passing in January left the enthusiast community reeling from the loss of one of the biggest, most visible presences. Amid the widespread grief, a common question popped up: What would happen to his landmark Gymkhana stunt video series? Around that time, Road & Track asked Travis Pastrana, who'd stepped in as the wheelman in the two most recent films, about the franchise's future. But he didn’t know, nor had he talked with Hoonigan’s Brian Scotto or Lucy Block, Ken's wife, out of respect for what’d just occurred.

That future is still in limbo—but in a conversation with The Drive, Pastrana finally shared more about what he and Block were planning for the next installment. And it sounds like the world missed out on a masterpiece.

The finale, or rather a potential finale, would’ve heralded the next generation of Gymkhana superstars and been the biggest, best, and wildest video to date. Pastrana says he and Block planned to go head-to-head in a race up Mount Washington in New Hampshire, drifting almost the entire hillclimb course, settling their friendly rivalry on tarmac and dirt. Moreover, they discussed a post-credits scene where Block's teenage daughter Lia would be revealed as the future star of the franchise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_KBvP0_8Tc

Below is an excerpt of the conversation; you can read the whole thing here.

Travis Pastrana: So what was going to be interesting was this year was going to be kind of a race about a race, where we were, I was going to try to get Ken to basically go up Mount Washington. And we were going to try to actually set the record, because now it's more pavement, but drifting the whole time. It just would be something fun, and set it up for when we're talking crap to have a Ken versus myself Gymkhana. Which would've been not our final Gymkhana, but that would've been...