Tanner Foust, 35, “a former military brat” and “ski bum,” has risen to the top of the rally racing heap–the “top level” of Open Class competition, which unfortunately hasn’t pierced “the six-pack populism of Nascar,” writes The New York Times.

Foust dropped out of the University of Colorado before driving a bus in Vail, but got fired for “doing doughnuts in the Beaver Creek West lot,” he says. He later ventured into stunt driving and was hired to drive the General Lee in the movie “The Dukes of Hazard.”

He’s taken medals at the X Games, appeared as a substitute at the Race of Champions in London, and acquired big-time sponsorships