Brian Deegan at the 2014 GRC Global RallyCross

Brian Deegan, a Nebraska native and California transplant, chatted with Autobytel about his experience driving the Ford Fiesta in the Global RallyCross and the events that led up to his rallycross success. Brian has been competing in rallying since the 2009 X Games, but his motorsports experience dates back to the 1999 X Games, where he competed in freestyle motocross on dirt bikes. He was no stranger to serious injury, but one of the reasons Brian eventually switched sports was because of a crash that caused extensive damage to his kidney and spleen. The Rockstar brand of energy drinks, which sponsors a lot of motorsports events and competitors, offered Brian the opportunity to drive a car in the X Games. Brian embraced these new challenges, and just showed up to the event with the optimistic approach that he’d figure out the sport as he went along. Racing a car proved to be more complicated than racing a bike, because of the speed and all the controls, but Brian found out he’d been achieving times in the top three in the rankings. That was enough to inspire Brian to become more competitive on four wheels. He enjoys giving ride-alongs and attracting a younger demographic to the sport to see his fans’ reactions to the experience.