Rhys Millen was involved in an accident while preparing to be the first person to backflip an off-road racing truck at the Red Bull Experiment in Las Vegas on Monday, December 31.
We have been informed by Rhys Millen Racing’s management team that Rhys has incurred non-life threatening injuries and is currently being medically treated at a local hospital.
Red Bull has a strong history working with athletes who push the limits and always employs safety as its first and primary concern. However, this is an unfortunate accident, and we wish Rhys a quick and healthy recovery.
Additional information will be disclosed when it becomes available.
RHYS MlLLEN QUOTE:
“After successfully landing the 360-degree backflip three times into the cardboard boxes in training, I am disappointed that our last jump ended in an accident. As I lay here in the hospital with three broken vertebrae in my neck and two compressed and broken vertebrae in my back, I am also disappointed that we cannot perform the 360-degree backflip at the Red Bull Experiment on New Year’s Eve, but I’m happy that I will be able to walk again. I look forward to watching Robbie Maddison do his 300-plus-foot motorcycle jump in Las Vegas.”
"I’ve heard some rumors but its been from some reliable sources. Expecially since they where practicing his jumps over at el toro. We where at dday and you could see his jump rig and stuff since they where practicing. The kickout on the ramp folds away after the front tires hit. So it starts the rotation from the initial hit to the front wheels then the rear just rotates under. They where using boxes as the landing ramp but took them a couple hours to put them back together after each jump.
They where also talking about not just doing a back flip (yes he has been doing those already) but adding a twist to it. So it would be more freestyle like i guess. Backflip 360 in a truck."
I remember him talking about his ‘drift-truck’ machine on Redline TV and saying that they’ve done the sideways thing as fast and as hard as they could and the next step is to go up. I remember thinking to myself, “Yeah, up is cool in an automobile. But how do you come down?”