Autoblog joins Elon Musk and Danica Patrick in accepting ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Tue, 19 Aug 2014

Unless you've been living in an off-the-grid cabin in the woods for the last couple of weeks or abstain entirely from social media activities, you've probably seen someone you know dump a bucket of ice and water over their own head recently. While the origins of the so-called Ice Bucket Challenge are shrouded in a history typical of Internet memes, its effectiveness in raising money and awareness for the ALS Association has been astonishing.

Celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, sports, technology and more have generated untold millions of video views in support of the organization that is helping patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease), and generated a much needed influx of cash, as well. Recent reports have some $15.6M raised in the last two weeks.

Of course, the big-hearted world of automotive celebrities has taken part in the drenching charity effort as well. Follow on below for some of the biggest names on four wheels getting iced for charity, with a smattering of your favorite Autobloggers thrown in for good measure.

And, if you've taken the challenge yourself (or have had the gauntlet thrown down), share your own video by leaving us a link in Comments, or tweeting us with #IceBucketChallenge to @therealautoblog. You can also skip the fuss and just donate to ALS directly, but make sure you at least watch Elon Musk get soaked before you do.

Mark Fields

The CEO of Ford Motor Company might be a little stiff on camera (bring back the mullet, Mark!), but his heart is in the right place. Challenged by the CEO of the Miami Dolphins, we think Fields could have gone a little stronger in terms of water and ice quantity with the vast resources of the Blue Oval at his back, but his heart's in the right place. (Note: the buzzkills at Ford's Facebook page haven't made the video embeddable, so click here to watch Mark do his thing.)

Danica Patrick

It's no surprise that Danica Patrick was one of the very first car-celebs to have turned up with an IBC video when we started looking – the multi-discipline racing driver has been a media darling for the entirety of her career and is no stranger to the viral video. Challenged by Krissie Newman, wife of NASCAR driver Ryan Newman (watch her get doused, here), Danica also goes to show that the IBC has spread deep into the heart of oval-track racing.

Courtney Force

Slightly less-well-known than Danica, but no less lovely in our humble opinion, National Hot Rod Association drag racer (and part-time reality television star) Courtney Force has also gotten in on the action. Iced by her whole racing crew, the water dumpers in this particular IBC seem to be enjoying themselves more than most – perhaps Courtney had it coming?

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is nothing by innovative, even when it comes to the IBC. Musk breaks with tradition by neither calling out the person that challenged him, or passing the challenge on to others, but he does have one of the best bucket-dumping gadgets. Posted to the official Space X YouTube page (sorry, Tesla), Musk has five strings pulled by his five sons, dumping five buckets of icy charity on his head.

Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Like we mentioned with Danica, the IBC is spreading through the ranks of NASCAR like cold, wet, wildfire. Nominated by Ryan Kerrigan and Pierre Garcon of the NFL's Washington Redskins, Jr. takes his bucket in complete stride (He's also wearing a hat, which feels a little like cheating, but we digress.) Earnhardt, in turn, nominates his crew chief Steve Letarte and his teammate Jimmie Johnson (who initially resisted, but eventually relented... they always do).

Larry Page And Sergey Brin

Yes, Page and Brin are the co-founders of Google, not "automotive" celebrities, per se. That said, with Google on the very bleeding edge of autonomous car development, we figured there'd be more than a few of you driving enthusiasts out there that would enjoy seeing them get soaked in a crowd.

Uhh, Me?

Yes, I know I'm not famous, but somewhere along the line, while talking about how it'd be funny to write a list of the car guys and gals that have completed the IBC, one of my fellow editors nominated me to take it on. I'm pretty sure it was multimedia director Adam Morath, with a sadistic twinkle in his eyes. Thusly challenged, and with a great car to class up the video, I figured I'd man up and take the rest of the Autoblog crew down with me in the process.

All Of Autoblog (Well, Some Of Us, Anyway)

Ladies and gentlemen, I present you our humble editorial staff taking one for charity. Don't worry, we're going to write the ALS Association a fat check, too, but this endeavor wouldn't be quite so satisfying if Autoblog didn't take the plunge as a group. And, as is the IBC charge, we've all called out colleagues in the industry, too, with editor-in-chief Sharon Carty egging on John Krafcik, CEO of TrueCar (and former Hyundai Americas honcho), executive editor Chris Paukert challenging Chrysler/SRT's affable design and performance guru Ralph Gilles, and Morath calling out Translogic video series host Jonathon Buckley. Also participating in the collective dampness is Pete Bigelow, Steven Ewing, Erin Marquis and Greg Migliore.

By Seyth Miersma