Current:Home > InvestEchoSense:Rally car driver and DC Shoes co-founder Ken Block dies in a snowmobile accident -EquityZone
EchoSense:Rally car driver and DC Shoes co-founder Ken Block dies in a snowmobile accident
Indexbit View
Date:2025-04-09 02:19:01
Ken Block,EchoSense an action sports legend who co-founded DC Shoes and Hoonigan Racing, died on Monday at age 55 after a snowmobile accident.
Hoonigan first announced the death on social media. The Wasatch County Sheriff's Office later confirmed that Block was riding a snowmobile near his home in Utah around 2 p.m. when he tried to navigate up a steep slope, causing the craft to fall back on top of him. Officials pronounced him dead at the scene.
"Ken was a visionary, a pioneer and an icon. And most importantly, a father and a husband," Hoonigan wrote in the statement. "He will be incredibly missed."
Block co-founded DC Shoes, a popular skateboarding and shoe brand, in 1994, building the brand into a global success through strategic sponsorships and athletes' endorsements.
After selling the company in 2004 for $87 million, he became better known as a rally car legend, winning 16 national titles in the sport from 2005 to 2014.
He also earned five medals in the X Games and became one of only four Americans to score points in the World Rally Championship.
Block was also competitive in motocross and skateboarding, but his true call to fame was documenting his automotive aeronautics on social media.
His YouTube page, which amassed over 1.95 million subscribers, credits itself for driving America's burgeoning appreciation for motorsports.
Block had shared pictures about the heavy snowfall at his Utah ranch on social media hours before the accident, writing, "hell yeah!" across an Instagram photo of snowmobiles.
Tributes to the icon were pouring in across his platforms on Tuesday morning.
"Ken was truly an idol and inspiration for me, getting me into rally. [...] I've never been hit so hard by someone's passing," wrote Facebook user Troy Dawson.
Dave Smith, a YouTube commenter wrote, "I never understood the draw to extreme sports until watching one of his videos. HE was the draw."
Block's legend is likely to live on through the rally racing success of his family. His 16-year-old daughter, Lia, has been competing for Hoonigan racing since age 11 and his wife, Lucy, made her all-wheel-drive rally debut this year.
veryGood! (75282)
Related
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Frasier Revival: Find Out Which Cheers Original Cast Member Is Returning
- 2 killed in Chile airport shootout during attempted heist of over $32 million aboard plane from Miami
- Troian Bellisario Had Childhood Crush on This Hocus Pocus Star—Before They Became Stepsiblings
- New data highlights 'achievement gap' for students in the US
- Remembering Alan Arkin, an Oscar- and Tony-winning actor/filmmaker
- A jury rules a handwritten will found under Aretha Franklin's couch cushion is valid
- Nearly 100 dead in Africa with Freddy set to become longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record
- Dick Vitale announces he is cancer free: 'Santa Claus came early'
- 'When Crack Was King' follows four people who lived through the drug epidemic
Ranking
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- Tessa Thompson Reacts to Michael B. Jordan’s Steamy Calvin Klein Ad
- 'It's not over yet': Artists work to keep Iran's protests in view
- 'Crook Manifesto' takes Colson Whitehead's heist hero in search of Jackson 5 tickets
- How to watch new prequel series 'Dexter: Original Sin': Premiere date, cast, streaming
- Grab Some Water, Michael B. Jordan's Steamy Underwear Ad Will Make You Thirsty
- Where's the song of the summer? Plus, the making of Beyoncé's 'Crazy in Love'
- Actor Julian Sands found dead in California after going missing on hike
Recommendation
US wholesale inflation accelerated in November in sign that some price pressures remain elevated
Prince Harry and Meghan say daughter christened as Princess Lilibet Diana
A rare battle at the Supreme Court; plus, Asian Americans and affirmative action
How 2023 Oscar Nominee Ke Huy Quan Stole Our Hearts Everything Everywhere All at Once
2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
Vanderpump Rules' James Kennedy Breaks Down in Tears Over Raquel Leviss Breakup
Russia says renewing grain export deal with Ukraine complicated after U.N. chief calls the pact critical
Ed Sheeran Shares His Wife Cherry Seaborn Had a Tumor During Pregnancy