Gordon had “enjoyable time” pulling off prank on reporter with Pepsi Max

Last year, Pepsi Max released a video that featured a prank on a sale’s representative. The video was quickly dubbed as a fake by many, including Jalopenik reporter Travis. So Pepsi Max came back with their own revenge as they pranked the reporter.

“I’m so proud of them for believing in us and taking risk to step outside the boundaries and what they call maxing it out and they definitely did,” Gordon commented yesterday. “It was a lot of fun, but it was nerve wracking because we had one take to do that and pull it off.  There was a lot involved, but the results are really, really good.”

Gordon said that he knows that he isn’t the back actor himself personally, however when they put the makeup and the disguise on him, it really makes him look good.

“Right before I picked up Travis we basically went through one run of how everything was going to go hopefully, there’s a lot of things you can’t prepare for,” Gordon added. “You start to try to get into that character.  I’m no actor, but I did the best I could and luckily the disguise helped me pull it off.  You have to understand, this thing was like eight months in the making.  After the first test drive was so popular then Pepsi Max came to me and said, ‘Hey, would you be interested in doing this again?’  I said, ‘Yeah, but I want to do all the driving.’”

Gordon added there was a lot of work was put into figuring out how to make the pieces fall together in making sure that it was safe, Gordon wasn’t recognizable and making the partnership work with Jalopnik.

“When I look at it, how we pulled this off is near impossible and the fact that we were able to pull it off and at the end of the day Travis had a big smile on his face finally was what made it so extraordinary,” Gordon commented. “It was an adrenaline rush for me.  An hour later I felt like I had just won the Daytona 500.  Just that kind of feeling you get when you’re in that kind of a situation.  We had a safe word, which was Nebraska.  I didn’t come up with it.  They said, here’s the word.  I had an earpiece where I could hear the crew talking, they could hear us and see video live of what was going on inside the car and so there was that moment that if it got to that point we called that word and it all stopped and when I first took off and I hit about 80 miles per hour and he started kicking that glass, I came this close.  You don’t know what that situation is going to be like until you have that person in the back of the car that is really scared.”

Gordon said that he enjoyed the experience and wanted to do it as he likes to step outside of his boundaries and says that he felt after the first video that there was a challenge issued his way to actually go out and do it himself with doing the driving.

“Guess what, here’s the results of that because we wanted to go out there and show everybody how authentic and how real this can be,” Gordon said. “Why would we do that?  It’s a good question, but I can tell you it was a blast doing it and I think the response that it’s getting certainly speaks for itself.  I was questioning that a few times myself during it so I know people are going to question that, but after it was over and we came sliding in, I was like, wow, that was the most incredible thing that I’ve ever done.”

About the Author

Ashley McCubbin

Joining OnPitRoad.com mid-2013 season, Ashley McCubbin is now the Managing Editor and contributes to each racing division as needed. Since studying journalism at the University of Guelph-Humber, Ashley has published articles on a couple of different websites, while serving as a public relations representative for different short track teams. Born in North York, Ontario, Ashley currently lives in Bradford, Ontario and spends her weekend at the local short tracks in the area. She has spent her entire life at the short track level, falling in love with the sport at the age of five. Beyond her love of short track racing, she also has grown an interest for both NASCAR and the IndyCar Racing Series. She also enjoys taking photos and working on websites, while playing a couple rounds of Candy Crush afterwards.

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