NEWRY, Maine — Editor's note: The video attached to this story was published Jan. 3.
Sports fans the world over have been mourning the loss of Ken Block. The 55-year-old action sports superstar died in a snowmobile crash Monday.
A co-founder of the massively popular DC Shoe, Block sold the company in 2004 and then spent his adult life pushing boundaries and creating opportunities for others. He did a lot of that in Maine, as well.
Since 2005, Block was a mainstay at the annual New England Forest Rally, which starts at Sunday River each summer. At last year’s races, NEWS CENTER Maine interviewed families who gathered near Block’s car to meet him.
"Look at the smile on his face," one visibly excited dad wearing a Ken Block shirt said, looking down at his young son as the pair waited for Block to emerge from his trailer.
"It's gonna be a good day. We're gonna have fun."
For much of the past two decades, Block helped take rally driving mainstream, regularly posting videos online of creative stunts, drifting, and rally racing that have attracted 200 million views on YouTube alone.
Team O’Neil, a rally school based in Dalton, New Hampshire, helps run the New England rally each year.
Karl Stone, business manager at the company, described his beloved sport as "humble."
Indeed, despite its rise to prominence on the race circuit, the New England Forest Rally is completely free to attend. Dozens of volunteers pay for their own travel and lodging to come work the weekend.
Stone said a relatively shy Block went out of his way to take care of volunteers each summer. Block’s mastery of social media and care for others, he added, helped bring more fans to the races and inspire a generation of car lovers.
"He was a marketing genius, so to have him at the events and doing these things and documenting it and putting it out to all the people in his audience, never mind the other people it ends up getting in front of organically," Stone said. "It was just huge for the sport."
Block finished second at last year’s New England Forest Rally. His wife, Lucy, finished seventh. His 16-year-old daughter, Lia, is an award-winning driver as well. On the afternoon of his death, Ken Block Tweeted photos and an announcement of Lia's recent work rebuilding a 1985 Audi.
On Wednesday, Lia posted a photo on Instagram of her walking with her dad and wrote she had lost her best friend.
"I grew up, knowing in the back of my head, that I wanted to be just like dad," she wrote in closing. "He was one of the most amazing people in the world, not to mention the best dad I could have ever asked for. I will strive every single day to make you proud. I love you to the moon and back kenny boi."