Pastrana, an 11x X-Games Gold Medalist, extreme sports icon and occasional NASCAR competitor, made his debut this past weekend in the Extreme E series, competing with a new team fielded by Legacy Motor Club, co-owned by Johnson and Maury Gallagher.
Johnson, who also plans to compete in one or more series’ events with the team this year, missed the opener by competing in Monday’s rain-delayed Daytona 500.
Extreme E is an off-road racing series, founded by the same team behind Formula E, which showcases electric SUVs and futuristic technologies in some of the world’s most remote and challenging environments.
This five-event global series utilizes its sporting platform to promote electrification, equality and highlight the effects of climate change.
In 2025, Extreme E will transition into Extreme H – the world’s first hydrogen off-road racing series and will be recognized as an FIA Championship.
This year’s first event was held in Saudi Arabia, with Pastrana and Gray Leadbetter – the first woman to win a U.S. Pro Class Championship in the Championship Off-Road closed-course series – driving for LMC.
Although the duo did not reach a Grand Final at the Desert X Prix, Pastrana reveled in his first series race.
“From my perspective, driving the car on the second lap is about as good in a vehicle as I’m going to get in anything, and the last few seconds of a lap come from not necessarily taking chances, but being willing to go and to drive on the edge,” Pastrana said. “I was driving on two wheels for half of the track.
“A big thing, though, was not crashing the car for Jimmie. He hasn’t said that out loud, but you don’t want a big shunt in your opening weekend competing in this series.
“Nevertheless, in Round 2 we were close to the Grand Final, and so I turned up a little bit of the risk – within reason, of course. We knew what we had to do, and the risk was going to be the pay-out.
“It was close. We had a shot as a team to be in there and we were gutted to just miss out.”
In addition to the series’ laudable goals, Pastrana said from his first debut weekend, he also saw a lot of “great racing.”
“The Round 1 Grand Final was exceptional – it was one of the best races I’ve ever seen in my whole life,” he said. “When people see the racing as good as it is, that helps a lot in terms of converting people to electric and sustainable racing.
“From there, they can then see it’s way faster than they first thought. Green technologies and power aside, we have to show that it can be as exciting or more exciting than what people may know. That last part is key and then people will be hooked.”
Pastrana believes Extreme E and hydrogen-fueled racing vehicles will be transformative to motorsports.
“My kids don’t want to touch anything with gas. They love electric bikes because they can go out in anyone’s back yard if they have an acre and run around – even when they are at a barbeque or something like that,” he said.
“I couldn’t do that as a kid because the bikes were too loud, so the change is coming.”
The series next event will take place July 13-14 in Europe at a location still to be determined. That will be followed by Sardinia, Italy Sept. 14-15 and again Sept. 21-22 and Nov. 23-24 in the U.S., also at a location to be determined.
