Scott Speed was once a Formula 1 driver. Before that, he was known as one of the fastest men alive in a kart. Now he's doing all kinds of stuff, including driving the occasional Global Rallycross car. Turns out he's pretty good at that, too.

While big names in rallycross like Ken Block, Travis Pastrana, and Tanner Foust were favorites for the win, those big names fell out of the running in a crash in turn 1 of the final, with Speed, Toomas Heikkinen, and Patrik Sandell going on to round out the podium.

Ken Block voiced his dissatisfaction with the GRC X Games Brazil venue, according to Autosport, saying, "I came to this event really excited about competing and running my new Fiesta for the first time in competition. But the event ended up being a real disappointment. Myself, Travis [Pastrana] and Tanner [Foust] all got taken out in Turn 1 of the final, which sucks. Combine that with the fact that the track here in Foz is the absolute worst track I've ever raced on and it's just been a tough weekend here in Brazil. I'm passionate about racing, especially in the X Games, and unfortunately this track didn't maintain the level of quality that previous X Games rally courses had."

Block's complaints aren't unjustified, though they may be mis-directed; an ill-considered move by Heikkinen put Brian Deegan and Foust into each other, and then they collected Block and Pastrana, causing so much damage a red flag was thrown to clean up the wreckage. Upon the restart, only six cars remained--and Foust, Pastrana, Block, and Buddy Rice weren't among them. You may remember Heikkinen's name from his bone-jarring crash at last June's X Games Los Angeles, where he failed to clear the gap in a jump, nosing into the landing platform and flipping to the ground.

Even with the event's headliners crashing out in the first turn of the final, it wasn't a cruise to victory for Speed. In fact, it wasn't until a dramatic last-lap pass over a jump that Speed pulled out front.

Whatever the circumstances, we're glad to see Speed back on top, especially in Global Rallycross. More fast drivers in the ranks never hurts a series, and we can't get enough door-to-door dirt/jump/rally action.