6 Things You Didn't Know About Vanilla Ice (But Were Afraid To Ask)

5. Vanilla Ice Was The 6th Best Jet Ski Racer In The World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeNEwGaA4JM So what exactly did Vanilla Ice do after conquering the musical world? He tried to conquer the extreme sports world. While this might come out of left field for a lot of you, it certainly didn't for the Iceman. Before making it big as a rapper, Vanilla Ice was actually a Motocross racer, winning a bunch of awards back in 1985. He actually thought (according to his autobiography, Ice By Ice) that he was destined to be a Motocross racer and rapping and breakdancing was more of a hobby. After breaking his ankle in a race, he used his dancing as training and decided to stay off the bike for awhile. And then international stardom hit and he didn't really have time for the race tracks anymore. He kept perfecting his riding skills though and would show them off on occasion. During a televised event, he drove his motorcycle through a burning wall and of course did most of his own motorcycle stunt work in his movie "Cool As Ice". He also got a speeding ticket while touring in Germany (for supposedly riding 140 mph). But what the hell does this have to do with his Jet Ski career? Well, that was his introduction to the world of extreme sports. In 1993, his career had died down quite the bit in the United States compared to his god-like stardom a couple of years before (every show sold out - every stage a stadium) and Ice (wanting to take everything to the extreme) started Motocross racing professionally. However, after a couple of months on the track, he started getting more interested in Jet Ski racing, because if you fall of your vehicle there, you only land in water, instead of risking breaking every bone in your body. After only a couple of months in the water, Vanilla Ice was touring the world as a professional racer, had a Kawasaki sponsorship and became rated the 6th best Jet Ski racer in the entire world! He would continue jet ski racing throughout 1994 and 1995 and never lost his positive attitude in the process.