HOW BIG IS YOUR BUCKET? ADVENTURE AND ACHIEVEMENT COME IN ALL SIZES.

“BUCKET LIST” is a term derived from the concept of “kicking the bucket.”

- 

A. Fewer than 80 drivers have won the Indy 500. A.J. Foyt did it four times.

B. And in 1967, Foyt won Le Mans (with Dan Gurney, spraying champagne) less than two weeks later.

C. For Buddy Arrington, happiness was a chance to race as long as he was able.

As in, the moment we die. Human beings are the only animals on earth that clearly know their time is limited—that, at some point, the clock will run out. Death sucks, but the awareness of it focuses the mind. And that awareness is at the crux of any bucket list.

It’s rarely considered how big the bucket should be or how to fill it. Our most significant experiences can be small and numerous, splayed across decades and continents, or a moment so singularly magnificent that it transforms an aimless existence in an instant. Our lives are built upon the things we do, the aspirations we dream of, and the ambition that leads to both success and failure. Worst, though, are those things we regret never having pursued at all.

TRIPPING Every car nut has a bucket list: a vehicle you must own, a road trip you have to take. These true-life stories are of people who stopped dreaming and started doing.

Drive Through Every State In 2024, during the summer break before his senior year of high school, AJay Bentley left home in Edwards, Colorado, and set out to visit major U.S. cities. In 64 days, he drove 43,000 miles through 49 states.