Vet-owned Black Rifle Coffee Company decided to celebrate Veteran’s Day this year with an insane driving film starring sports icon Travis Pastrana and elite rally car and off-road racer “Texas” Dave Carapetyan. “The Final Send” is a short film that shows ‘em shredding the streets of a small Texas town in heavily customized Hoonigan racing vehicles in a high-octane Dukes of Hazard-ish homage. Check out the action here.
Carapetyan, owner-operator of the Rally Ready driving school with three Pike’s Peak championships and a Baja 500 win to his credit, plays the role of Hank, an aging World War II military veteran who carjacks a Hoonigan-modifed Jeep after receiving a life-changing diagnosis from his physician. Pastrana portrays Sheriff Pastrami, the local lawman who pursues Hank in a customized Suburu Brat-turned police cruiser. The two drivers make the streets of Boerne, Texas their playground with a full-throttle, “full-send” exhibition of driving, donuts, and tire-burning action, while a host of actual war heroes and Black Rifle Coffee Company military-veteran influencers make cameo appearances.
“Putting these amazing Hoonigan vehicles through the paces with Dave was a blast, but to shine a light on these war heroes and Best Defense Foundation made this project extra special,” said Pastrana. “It was an honor and a privilege to tear up the streets of Boerne for such a worthy American cause.”
In the motorsports world, the Black Rifle Coffee Company and Hoonigan have begun to overlap more frequently, as competitors at American Rally Association events, when filming Gymkhana with Pastrana, and now in a full-fledged production in honor of Veterans Day.
“There are a lot of parallels between what Hoonigan does with cars and what Black Rifle Coffee is doing,” said Ron Zaras, Vice President of Brands, Hoonigan, and Director of The Final Send. “The message we want to get across is that veterans have done so much for us. They should be able have fun and enjoy what they’ve made possible.”
“If you couldn’t tell from the video, we all had a lot of fun with this,” said Evan Hafer, CEO of Black Rifle Coffee Company. “It’s one thing to showcase the amazing skills of Travis and Texas Dave but promoting Best Defense Foundation by featuring actual war heroes and veterans throughout the video is what we’re most proud of.”
