Now Chris Carr has taken a technical role with American Flat Track, he has had to give up his commentating duties for flat track's livestreaming service, Fanschoice. The anchor, Scottie Deubler remains and is joined by (drum roll, please) Bubba Blackwell. Who? I thought. The name rang a distant bell, but not enough to rustle up an image. The bearded X-Gamers who was doing the Harley feed at Flat Our Friday? Nope.
Bubba Blackwell is a former flat tracker who, in his own admission, wasn't fast enough, and became a daredevil bike jumper instead. This clip is from 4 July, 1999, I believe. He attempts to jump 14 arctics live on TV, after doing an interview, live on TV. I suppose if you're in the truck jumping business the embarrassment of failing on live TV is overshadowed by the broken neck. Blackwell beat a lot of Evel's jumps using the same XR750.
He attempts the jump on a trick XR750 and tells Leno how much he loves flat track, back in 1999, before the hooligans made it trendy. I'll miss Carr's forensic insight, but I'm looking forward to Bubba's enthusiasm. Watch this clip to get a taste of what to expect.
First race of the season is Thursday 16 March - the Daytona TT (and Sideburn will be there reporting for the next issue).