New Year No Limits was an annualAmerican television special that aired onESPN from December 31, 2007 until January 1, 2012. It was created, hosted and sponsored byRed Bull GmbH. The program usually aired after theChick-fil-A Bowl (around 11 pm) until 1 amEastern Time.
The 2007 version originated from theRio All Suite Hotel and Casino inLas Vegas, Nevada.Joe Tessitore,Mark Schlereth, Cam Steele, andJamie Little were the commentators.
On this show,freestyle motocross riderRobbie Maddison set a new world record for the longest jump on a motorcycle, jumping 322 feet, 7½ inches. He then made a second attempt, largely because his personal goal was 360 feet. He failed in that attempt, and the second jump was slightly shorter.
Maddison jumped above a makeshiftfootball field set up in the Rio'sparking lot, which was used to provide a perspective of the distance.
The show was also scheduled to feature the first-ever backflip in anoff-road truck, performed byRhys Millen, best known for his skills as adrifting race car driver. However, he suffered aback injury in his final warm-up jump when the truck overshot safety barriers. Millen did speak to Schlereth by telephone.
In the original plan, Maddison was to have jumped shortly after midnight ET and Millen's flip was set for 3 a.m. ET. However, because of theovertime finish of theChick-fil-A Bowl that preceded it, and as a safety precaution due toheadwinds at the site, Maddison did not jump until approximately 12:45 a.m. (9:45 p.m. Dec. 31 in Las Vegas).SportsCenter, which was set as interstitial programming, then followed at 1:10 a.m. ET and was re-run in its entirety in place of the canceled Millen stunt.
Angels and Airwaves performed at the end of the show.
Early promotions indicated thatNew Year No Limits was presented byMGM, the distributor of the upcomingmockumentary releaseThe Poughkeepsie Tapes, though the sponsorship was dropped when MGM decided to shelve that film (which would not be released in any form until 2014).
The 2008 New Year No Limits jump once again featured Maddison, and this time the off-road attempt to backflip a truck by Millen was once again on the plan, with the popular Kiwi racer on the docket on the undercard before the motorcycle jump.
At 8:30 pmPT, Millen performed the backflip on the truck, launching at 36 MPH, traveling 80 feet at a height of 50 feet, and landing hard on all four wheels before the truck rolled.
Shortly after the stroke of the new year in the Eastern Time Zone (about 35 minutes later), Maddison successfully connected on a ten-story-high jump, landing on top of a replica of the Arc de Triomphe at a Las Vegas casino. While that was successful, he lacerated his left hand on the ensuing 60-foot drop.
The 2009 New Year No Limits moved west toLong Beach, California, whereTravis Pastrana, a four-time Rally America champion and part-time WRC driver, jumped aSubaru Impreza STI rally car off the Pine Avenue pier, soaring 269 feet on Rainbow Harbor, and landed on a floating barge shortly after 9 pm Pacific Time. He celebrated by hitting a backflip off the landing ramp into Rainbow Harbor.
The 2010 New Year No Limits was planned to move toSan Diego, California, whereLevi LaVallee, a seven-timeWinter X Games medalist and champion snocross racer, was to attempt to jump his Polaris snowmobile longer than ever before and eclipse the current record of 301 feet. The event would have taken place at the Embarcadero Marina Park in the Port of San Diego. Embarcadero is Spanish for “landing place,” making it an appropriate location for LaVallee’s jump.[1]
On Friday December 17, Red Bull officially announced that Levi Lavallee was injured during a practice run and would be unable to make his record-setting attempt during the special telecast. As a result, there was no New Year, No Limits event for 2010. During the practice sessions leading up to the event Levi managed to land a record-setting 361-foot jump shattering the old record of 3011⁄2 feet. Since the official event for the attempt did not take place the practice run has been submitted for the official world record title.[2] An episode ofSportsCenter aired in place ofNew Year No Limits.
The 2011 edition ofNew Year No Limits featured LaVallee making a second attempt at crossingSan Diego Bay whileRobbie Maddison attempted to do the same on amotorcycle; the two attempts took place side-by-side. The event was televised on ESPN and was also broadcast on the Internet viaESPN3.
LaVallee set a new World Record unofficially during his jump landing at a distance of 412 ft. Robbie Maddison landed his jump at 378 ft, 9 inches also an unofficial World Record, but short of his stated goal of 400 ft.
The program would not air in 2012 into 2013, and was effectively cancelled with the launch of theCollege Football Playoff on ESPN in 2014, which effectively monopolized New Year's Eve and New Year's Day with bowl programming rather than a need for counterprogramming.