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Mike Trout is good at many, many things. Baseball is, of course, one of those things. He’s an excellent weatherman in the making. His golf skills are, apparently, pretty dang good. So much greatness, in so many different fields of expertise. Today, we learned that there may be a limit to his awesomeness: He is very, very slow at changing tires on a race car using a high-powered impact wrench. (To be fair, if he had a few more hours to practice, he’d probably have that mastered, as well)
Ok, so that’s a pretty random and specific skill to be bringing up, so let me add some extremely cool context. You are all probably familiar with BODYARMOR, the official sports drink of not only Mike Trout, but also the Angels themselves. It’s that stuff that we see getting dumped on a Halos hero, with Alex Curry as collateral damage, dozens of times per year, so I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.
Well, BODYARMOR, and Mike Trout, wanted to welcome the newest member of their sponsorship family, young NASCAR stud Ryan Blaney, so they had a fun little event this morning in Tempe, and Halos Heaven was invited! Rex Fregosi is, of course, our official eyes and ears in AZ, so who better to go and cover the shenanigans?
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Ryan Blaney is just 23 years old, but he recently was runner-up at the Daytona 500, and his stock is on the rise, to put it mildly. When you’ve got the attention of Mike Trout and a company like BODYARMOR, then you’re probably doing some things right. I’m no NASCAR fan or anything, but maybe we got a glimpse of Trout meeting the Mike Trout of NASCAR, considering Blaney’s age and his successes so far in his young career.
The morning’s best moments all came when the two stars attempted to give each other a glimpse into their respective worlds: Mike Trout got to try to do a real deal NASCAR pit stop tire change, and Blaney went into the Angels’ facilities and took some batting practice. Oh, and there were donuts. Man, were there ever donuts, and I’m not talking about the breakfast food kind. I’m talking about Trout and Blaney taking turns burning rubber and spinning out in the Tempe Diablo parking lot.
Not a bad way to spend a morning, no?
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In case you were wondering, Mike Trout didn’t crash the car and get injured or anything like that. So you can relax. He also didn’t do too hot with the pit stop challenge; in fact, he got smoked by Blaney, and considering how competitive Trout is, don’t be surprised if you hear that he’s equipped his backyard at home with a makeshift NASCAR pit area, for him to practice. He’ll get you next time, Blaney!
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Of course, it’s not like Ryan Blaney was cranking out the hits in bp, either. I think it’s safe to say that, while both dudes gave respectable performances as fish out of water, they should both stick to their day jobs.
All in all, it looked like it was a pretty rad time, and if you feel like you missed out, then don’t fret! Rex took a treasure trove of great photos from the day’s proceedings; tons of great shots in here, definitely worth checking out!
On top of that, Rex was going live on Facebook for most of the event, and you can relive the whole ordeal below. It’s got it all...the tire change challenge, the funny exchanges between Trout and Blaney, Trout taking the wheel of Blaney’s car for a trip around the parking lot, Trout’s batting practice tips, and more.
Mike Trout and Ryan Blaney. BODYARMOR event
Posted by Halos Heaven on Thursday, March 16, 2017
Special thanks to Mike Trout, Ryan Blaney and the friendly BODYARMOR staff for inviting Halos Heaven to come along for this particular ride, and as usual, a big shoutout to Rex, for giving us his time and allowing us all to feel like we were right there with him.