This is the Statt Mann Baby!!  Time to Scatt a little bit.

NASCAR driver Boris Said’s appearance in a rally car at X Games 13 was widely anticipated.  Even by the most traditional of American rallyists, eleven-time champion John Buffum.

On Friday, John told me he was even texting with Boris while Boris was in Montreal for the Busch race.  Buffum was here in Southern California setting up the car Boris was to use in the X Games competition Sunday at the Home Depot Center.

John’s excitement was stunning. He’s watching his sport change radically and he’s willing to change with the times.

“We’d love to have someone like (NASCAR Nextel Cup champion) Jimmy Johnson and I think he’d like to come,” John told me.  “Obviously he has great off-road background.  It would be awesome.  Robby Gordon is another.  But obviously they’re so tied up with their NASCAR schedule they can’t make room to come but we’d love to have them.”

Rallying blends so many driver skills.  I love watching anyone handle the pavement, dirt, jumps, speed, terrifying drifts, and, of course, the outlandish fun.

It’s extreme to the max.

Peace.