In less than nine hours, NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson and four other extreme athletes, managed to surf Huntington Beach, race at two hundred miles per hour at the Auto Club Speedway, and ski the slopes at Mammoth Mountain.
Phew, it’s exhausting just reading that! That’s over three hundred and fifty miles covered from dawn to dusk with much thanks to Johnson’s private jet.
“I met some great athletes,” Johnson said. “Only in my home state can you do all three of those cool things in one day. I’m proud of that.” In attendance for this wild ride, was snowboarder Eddie Wall, ski racer Chris Benchetler, surfer Ian Walsh and standup paddler Dave Kalama.
“I was most nervous about the surfing,” Johnson said. “There are no guarantees of catching a wave and I didn’t want to lay a big goose egg there. I don’t think the other guys felt I could catch a wave and ride it, but I did. It wasn’t the prettiest thing.”
“The hardest part is you ride the wave in, and then you have to paddle out through all that stuff again. That’s tough. We were in the water for an hour and a half. At the end, my arms felt like they were going to fall off.”
Johnson may have felt weary in Surf City, but afterwards it was his chance to shine on the 2-mile track in Fontana.
“It was fun to see how excited those guys were to drive a race car,” Johnson said. “They were so thrilled to ride around and make laps on their own.”
For the final venue, everyone hopped back on Johnson’s plane and flew to Mammoth Mountain to take on the slopes.
“I feel like I’m a far better skier than a surfer,” Johnson said. “So the day went from really nervous, completely comfortable, then pretty comfortable again.”
“We went through some gates and they timed us, which was fun. We did some small little jumps, too, but those guys just fly. It was fun just zipping down the mountain with them.”
To read more on their California adventure, visit ESPN’s blog.
Cheers, from the Mammoth RBO Team!
(Source: ESPN)
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