A Ram TRX is probably the most ridiculous truck that’s ever been built by a major automaker. It pairs rugged suspension and a tall ride height with 702 angry American horsepower. As you might imagine, that’s plenty enough to get yourself into real trouble. That’s precisely what happened to Brendan Schaub recently, with embarrassing consequences.
If you haven’t heard of Schaub, he’s an ex-UFC fighter that retired in 2015. Since then he’s worked to establish a career as a comedian, while also running a fledgling YouTube channel about trucks. His latest video featured his Ram TRX, which he’d had modified with an eye to pursuing off-road antics. He kitted it out with King shocks and upgraded brakes, but neither would save him from the calamity to come.
Schaub headed out to Johnson Valley to put the TRX through its paces. All went well at first, with the mighty Ram kicking up dust with abandon. It wasn’t long before Schaub got bogged deep in the fine dirt, though, with recovery proving frustrating and time-consuming. The truck was eventually freed by a random passer-by, but the day was only going to get worse from there. Schaub elected to carve some donuts to celebrate and save his video, and everything quickly went sideways… and upside down.
Former UFC fighter turned comedian Brendan Schaub flipped his truck attempting a donutpic.twitter.com/FED64zptOO
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) February 27, 2024
Running along the sand at low speed, Schaub tries to initiate a donut. He winds on a bunch of steering lock, and the truck starts to sink slightly towards the outside tire. Then, as he smashes the throttle, the rear outside tire digs in and the truck rolls straight over.
The Ram detects the problem near-immediately. As the truck rotates about 70 degrees, the side curtain airbags fire. A split second later, as it’s landing on its roof, the truck announces that the emergency system has been activated and that it will make an SOS call as a result of the crash. As Schaub clambers out of the vehicle, his iPhone, from somewhere in the cabin, also reports that it detected a crash and commences an emergency call of its own. The cabin is quickly a cacophony of robot voices and sirens going off. It’s somewhat reminiscent of that old science-fiction trope, where characters flee a spaceship during a self-destruct sequence as a feminine robot voice announces their impending doom. With Schaub now out of the vehicle and swearing, the Ram pipes up once more. “SOS CALL NOT SUCCESSFUL,” says the truck. “SOS SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO RETRY.”
In his video, Schaub puts the crash down to traction control being on when he thought it was off. Ultimately, it probably didn’t help, but that may not be the only factor at play. Doing donuts on soft sand is particularly difficult, as the outside wheels have a tendency to dig in, making the vehicle want to roll over. Ideally, you want to try and execute your donuts on sand in a more gradual fashion compared to doing them on asphalt. Simply spinning the wheel hard in one direction and matting the throttle is a great way to flip. You’ll also want to have your tire pressures set just right so your vehicle is floating more on top of the sand, rather than digging deep into the surface.
Injury-wise, Schaub got beaten up by the crash, but not too badly. He notes receiving a concussion and that his arm “got a little roughed up.” The truck, on the other hand, was totaled. “As I’m flippin’, I remember thinking to myself, you got kids, man” says Schaub. He expresses relief that he hadn’t brought his son with him that day, and that the TRX was his favorite vehicle of all those he’s ever owned.
Schaub’s example serves as a good learning experience. If you’re learning a new skill, like driving off-road, don’t get overconfident and start driving erratically if you don’t understand the consequences. Take things slow, and learn from someone more experienced than yourself if possible. That way, you can go home in your own ride, instead of in a tow truck or an ambulance. Stay safe on the dunes, friends!
Image credits: Tune Town via YouTube screenshot
I’m not sure how much this can be blamed on driving a lifted, powerful, 4wd etc. truck, because once, when I was younger and stupider, I almost managed the same thing in a VW Polo, trying to do a handbrake turn on a beach.
Luckily for me the car thumped back onto it’s wheels rather than rolling over, but I still felt like an idiot, especially as I had two friends in the car with me.
“He expresses relief that he hadn’t brought his son with him that day…” His son learned a valuable lesson too. Don’t ride with Dad when he’s doing stupid shit for clicks.
Talmbout Schaub flippin his trugg b? Traction control? Neva met him
That was not traction control, that was bad decision making.
Most surprising aspect of the whole thing is the lack of swearing. Maybe it was the concussion, but I’d have been letting loose with every cuss word I know if that happened to me.
The road to hell is paved with (usually young male) overconfidence.
Ouch about that airbag concussion! He’s lucky he didn’t get a broken neck too. If his head had been tilted just a little bit more he might have been paralyzed. Scary.
Idiot. Donuts in the sand? Love it.
Is that the job of the shark fin antenna that just got crushed?
More than likely just in the desert with zero reception.
They also work a bit better when fitted to an upwards-facing surface.
Learning from other people’s mistakes is so much better that learning from your own. Here we learn that the only thing stupider than lifted trucks are the people that drive them.
Money can’t buy intelligence