SAN DIEGO (AP) - Action sports wild man Travis Pastrana will make one of his few Nitro Circus Live appearances this year when the tour visits San Diego’s Qualcomm Stadium for the first time on Saturday night.
It will be a special stop for Pastrana.
“San Diego is pretty much the action sports capital of the world,” Pastrana said, noting the large number of skateboarders, BMX riders and motorsports athletes who are either from the area or live there now. Plus, Pastrana’s wife, Lyn-z, grew up in the area and they have a home in northern San Diego County.
Mike Porra, the CEO and creative director of Nitro Circus, said Qualcomm Stadium hasn’t been available in previous years.
Pastrana said the 70,000-seat stadium will allow organizers to put in bigger takeoff ramps.
Besides Pastrana riding his motorcycle and addressing the crowd, Nitro Circus Live will feature more than 30 world-class athletes in freestyle motocross, BMX, scooter and inline. They perform many tricks never attempted before.
All sorts of contraptions are known to come down the ramps at Nitro Circus.
“The goal is to do things other people think isn’t possible and push the limits in fun ways,” Pastrana said. “Every circus has its clowns, and that’s where boogie boards and penny farthings come in.”
The following Saturday, the Nitro World Games will be held in Salt Lake City.
While Nitro Circus Live is a show, the Nitro World Games are a competition with prize money. Pastrana said it’s part of the evolution of action sports.
Pastrana has been an X Games star and also driven rally cars and in NASCAR.
He’s done plenty of crazy stunts. He shattered the world record for the longest jump in a rally car, was the first to do a double backflip on a motorcycle, jumped a motorcycle into the Grand Canyon and once jumped out of a plane without a parachute, relying on friends with parachutes to get him safely to the ground.
In 1999, he announced himself to the action sports world when at age 15 he celebrated an X Games gold medal by jumping his motorcycle into San Francisco Bay. That stunt got him into a fair bit of trouble, and he lost his prize money and medal.
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