The Wrecks Games

The poster boy for the X Games etched his name in extreme-sports lore seven years ago. After winning the freestyle motocross title, Travis Pastrana launched his Suzuki into the San Francisco Bay, prompting organizers to withhold his $10,000 purse to pay for the cleanup.

He was only 15 at the time, but wise enough to realize a good investment.

Since then, Pastrana has maintained his cult-hero status among extreme-sports fans and broadened his marketing appeal by rolling out a variety of new and improved aerial tricks.

In the motocross best-trick competition Friday night at Staples Center, he sent a chill through the nearly sold-out crowd when it was announced he would try the first-ever double back flip in competition, then thrilled the fans when he pulled it off without a hitch.

“I promised myself after the first time I did it that I would never do it again,” Pastrana said afterward. “It shouldn’t have worked and I’ll never try it again.”

And to think freestyle motocross is just a hobby for him.

Lesser known to the casual fan was Pastrana’s decorated career as a motocross racer. He won the American Motocross Assn. 125cc national championship in 2000 and the AMA 125cc East Coast supercross title a year later.

However, after 19 knee surgeries, numerous concussions and a particular terrifying accident that caused his spinal column to be separated from his pelvis, Pastrana decided it was time to leave the profession.

“Injuries would keep me down for months at a time,” he said. “So I decided, ‘You know what, let’s do something fun that might be a little safer.’ ”

As a teenager, Pastrana often sped around the back roads near his home in Annapolis, Md., driving whatever vehicle he and his friends could afford at the time. Often, it was nothing more than a $400 used Volkswagen Beetle. Typically, the car wouldn’t last through the weekend.

Three years ago, he made headlines when he was ejected from his Corvette after crashing during a high-speed midnight thrill ride near his home. Amazingly, he suffered only minor injuries.

While Pastrana was on the mend from motocross mishaps, he often raced shifter karts to feed his competitive urge. He soon developed an interest in rally cars and began splitting time between motocross and rally.

Rally cars are street legal and house a driver and co-driver. They race on closed roads called “stages,” with the goal of accumulating the lowest elapsed driving time. The co-driver navigates the course and communicates upcoming road conditions and obstacles, such as crests, jumps and turns, so the driver can maintain a high rate of speed.

In 2005, Pastrana took aim at the Rally America National Championships, a domestic tour that draws the top drivers from the U.S. After finishing second in his inaugural race, Pastrana went on to finish fourth in his class and fifth overall.

“He’s obviously a very natural athlete when it comes to motor sports,” said Colin McRae of Scotland, one of the top drivers in the World Rally Championships.

In typical Pastrana fashion, however, he was behind the wheel for one of the most terrifying crashes of the season, rolling his car 9 3/4 times during a race in Colorado, then walking away from the wreckage.

Impressive showings last season convinced Subaru of America to sign Pastrana to a multiyear deal. The carmaker also signed Ken Block, founder of DC Shoes in Vista and the 2005 Rally America rookie of the year.

Their involvement in the sport quickly caught the attention of X Games executives, who were interested in adding a four-wheel racing event that would attract the attention of the extreme-sports crowd.

“When Travis got into rally, it worked out perfect for them,” Block said.

Pastrana said Block’s ties to the X Games -- his company’s brand is a favorite among the athletes and their followers -- deserves just as much credit for helping rally car racing reach the national stage.

“DC shoes is one of the top skateboard companies in the world,” Pastrana said. “When the owner gets involved in rally, that really turned some heads.”

Pastrana scored his first rally car victory in late April at the Rim of the World Rally in the Angeles National Forest. The event was not part of the Rally America National Championships, but it provided Pastrana with a boost of confidence.

He finished second in his most recent Rally America race last month in Maine, moving his car, No. 199, to the top of the season standings.

“I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to jump right into the top level and have the support to do it,” he said. “Everyone kind of made fun of us when we jumped in, but now we’re battling for the championship.”

Pastrana said his biggest adjustment to rally cars has been the mental side. Not knowing what’s around the next corner can be intimidating.

“It can be nighttime in the falling snow and you’re going 100 mph around a blind corner with a cliff on one side,” he said. “It can get ugly.”

The X Games added its unique wrinkles to the rally race, scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. today. The most obvious are the 150-foot ramps that lead in and out of the Home Depot Center, and a double jump inside the stadium that gave some drivers fits during practice Thursday. The quirks play right into the hands of Pastrana and his motocross background.

“Rally cars usually don’t do double jumps,” he said with a chuckle. “It should be interesting to see how some people respond to it.”

Eight of the race’s first nine stages were completed earlier this week and, heading into today’s “Super Special” stage, which will determine the winner, Pastrana and co-driver Christian Edstrom of New York trail McRae and his partner, Nicky Grist, by one-tenth of a second.

“Not too comfortable,” McRae said of his lead after a practice session Thursday. “You couldn’t have written a script any better than that.”

After the rally car race, Pastrana will compete in the first of two motocross freestyle heats at the Home Depot Center tonight, then return Sunday for the supermoto race and the remainder of the freestyle competition.

“I’ve been given a chance with rally and don’t want to mess that up,” he said. “I say that now, but if the crowd is going off, I’ve been known to do some crazy things.”

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X Games events

SKATEBOARDING

* What happened Friday: Chris Cole, 24, said he felt out of place as the oldest competitor in the street final at the Home Depot Center, but he earned an average score of 90.68 in the four-round competition, easily defeating runner-up Ryan Sheckler, 16, of San Clemente, who averaged 85.31. Andrew Reynolds of Winter Haven, Fla., was third with 85.06. Paul Rodriguez Jr., the two-time defending champion, never got going and finished seventh.

Bucky Lasek nailed a front-side cab varial heel flip to take home the gold medal in the vert best trick competition at Staples Center. Canadian Max Dufour stuck a back-side kickflip 360 tail grind to take the silver, and defending champion Bob Burnquist took the bronze, completing a front-side tail slide 360 out. Shaun White failed to land his much-hyped 1080 despite making 21 attempts, though he came close several times but couldn’t stick his landing.

* Today’s finals: Set to return are all three medalists from last season’s women’s street finals, led by champion Elissa Steamer, 30, who fended off 16-year-olds Evelien Bouilliart and Marissa Del Santo.

BMX

* What happened Friday: Chad Kagy became only the fourth rider to win X Games gold in the vert competition, scoring a 93-point first run at Staples Center. Kagy edged defending champion Jamie Bestwick, who scored a 91.66 on his first run, and Simon Tabron, who scored 90. Before Friday, Bestwick and Dave Mirra had won the last nine BMX vert gold medals. Mat Hoffman is the only other rider to win the event. Afterward, Bestwick, 35, announced his retirement from the X Games event but said he would continue to compete on the Dew Tour and in Europe. He had surgery in May to fuse to vertebrae in his neck.

Kevin Robinson won the gold medal in the vert best trick finals at Staples Center, where he performed a double flair --the first time the trick had ever been landed. A flair is a back flip with a 180-degree twist. Robinson did that twice to edge Kagy, who was second with a flatspin double tailwhip -- another trick landed for the first time. Tabron finished third.

* Today’s finals: The freestyle park competition took a hit when defending champion Dave Mirra was injured, opening the door for Ryan Nyquist, who took silver Thursday in the freestyle dirt, and Scotty Cranmer, who many thought outperformed Mirra in the event last year.

MOTO X

* What happened Friday: Travis Pastrana landed the first double back flip in competition history to win the best trick finals at Staples Center. The only imperfection seemed to be in the judging, as Pastrana scored only 98.6 points on what was his second and final jump of the night to beat Mat Rebeaud’s 93.80.

* Today’s finals: Last year’s easy victory by four-time champion Tommy Clowers in the step-up was a disappointment on the heels of 2004’s dramatic, three-round jump-off between gold medalist Jeremy McGrath and 2003 champion Matt Buyten. All three return, along with Mike Metzger, who in May did a back flip over the Caesars Palace fountains.

RALLY CAR

* Today’s finals: Times for the first eight stages of rally competition, completed Wednesday in Gorman, were averaged together to set up a “Super Special” ninth stage. Scotsman Colin McRae and navigator Nicky Grist lead by one-tenth of a second over the entry driven by Pastrana and Christian Edstrom.

Staff writers Dan Arritt, Michael Becker, Martin Henderson, Pete Thomas and Peter Yoon contributed to this report.