ESPN Freeskiing

In mainstream society, retired people stereotypically act crankily towards young people, smell like mothballs, and pose a constant threat on city streets and highways. The action sports world, perhaps out of foresight for the well-being of its retirees, took that latter habit of the elderly and turned it into an entire sport. Today, with names like Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan perennially gracing start lists across the country, rally car driving has taken on the form of a cheery retirement community for the best and brightest of action sports' yesterdays.

But it's not just for the retired anymore. As recently as this spring, the community opened its doors to the still very active halfpipe skier as Simon Dumont tested out his rally chops in the Volkswagen TDI Cup at the Virginia International Speedway. Even more recently, another still active freestyle skier took a premature tour of action sports' Shady Acres as Peter Olenick strapped into the driver's seat alongside his friend and codriver Jake Largess at Rally America's Rally Colorado event in Steamboat Springs. In Peter's words:

This rally is no joke, it was a 16 stage rally over two days taking place on the many hick/dirt roads Steamboat has to offer. It was so awesome, best time ever. The race is 150 miles, of gnarly. It was my first race ever and Jakes as well, so we had no clue what we were getting into. At registration Jake was handed his direction books, we both looked at each other in awe. We could not believe the size of the books with the directions that Jake had to give me for the race. It was so overwhelming. We started the race at 7:30 am drivers meeting and then 8:00am start. Of course we are slow so we started in the back of the pack, at 8:27am. Travis Pastrana and Ken Block were the first to start followed by the rest. There were 35 cars all lined up to go. Off we went.

To finish first, you must first finish. And with that in mind, Peter's primary objective for his first real rally race was to avoid disaster and cross the finish line in one piece—no small feat for a rally rookie.

WATCH! Olenick Rally Training Crash: A Cockpit View

Olenick and Largess crossed the finish line not only in one piece, but also ahead of many other competitors. The duo finished a respectable 4th place in their class, and 20th overall. "[I'm] so stoked to do another race," said Olenick of his rally debut, "It's all I want to do right now."

Yeah, Peter. I've been hoping to retire myself.

WATCH! COG Rally, No Crash: A Cockpit View

But with active athletes like Olenick and Dumont pulling down rally finishes to build on, and guys like Dave Mirra standing on rally and BMX podiums concurrently, maybe "retirement community" isn't the most apt analogy. Something like "summer vacation destination" might be more fitting.

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