Skateboard Community Posts

It was nearing the end of the first day at Barret Junction and everyone was at the top of the hill ready to take another run. The road was clear and the street lugers took off first as usual. Everyone was coming down the hill and it wasn’t until Doc’s corner that things went wrong.

Doc’s turn has the name for a reason. It is the fastest part of the road and it also the part where most of the gnarly crashes happen.

“The bike was coming up the hill towards the middle of the road and as soon as he saw me he veered to his right and I veered to my left” said Ryan Farmer.

They basically both tried to avoid the other person but swerved into each other. Ryan was probably going close to 50 mph down the hill while the bike was coming at about 25-30 mph up the hill when they collided. Ryan actually hit the bike so hard the forks on the bike bent.

“So when he came up the side of me he hit my hip, just a little bit lower then my ass, like just the top of my thigh, and then rolled up towards my shoulder. When he hit me the way that my tuck was on the luge, the tire hit my forearm and it pushed it into the side of the luge which then pushed into my side like rib area. What that did is pushed those two bones, the ulna and I forgot the other one. When it pushed it up it broke the ulna cleanly by the elbow and then dislocated everything right there and pushed the two arm bones up like an inch, so it made it look like my elbow was swollen, but it really was just where it was at and like the forearm was at the wrong angle. It was weird. It dislocated everything inside and I had another fracture going up the bone. When I went into the dr. they had to push it back into place the first night, and then the next morning they could do surgery.”

The road was supposed to be closed off and people were supposed to be stopping others from coming up. The guy on the dirt bike was a skater as well and he should not have been coming up the road at the time he was. Ryan is still alive and in good spirits but also in a lot of pain. This is a crash that never had to happen and is a good reminder to everyone to know what is happening on the road and that street luging or downhill skating are not a joke. People get hurt and usually it is unpredicted elements that come into play that cause the most damage.

The crash is one that didn’t have to happen but Ryan remains in good spirits about it and can’t wait to get back on his luge again soon.

Waldo Autry 1957-2013. On January 23, 2013 Waldo Autry, a skateboard legend, street luger and the definition of an adrenaline junky passed away. Waldo was a friend to everyone that knew him. He touched the lives of many and his passing away was a shock to everyone who knew him.

Waldo was best known for inventing the kickturn on an invert in the Baldy pipes. He raced in the Signal Hill speed runs and made the cover of many skateboarding magazines. He was always pushing the limits with everything he did. “If they were going to jump over a car, I was going to jump over a garage” Waldo said in an interview with Juice Magazine.

Not only is Waldo well known for skateboarding but he was also a well known street luger. Most people who don’t know much about street luging know him for his participation in the Red Bull luge launch in San Francisco.

The skateboarding he did in bowls far exceeded others of his time. Anybody who skateboarded in the 70′s would know who Waldo Autry was and anyone who has ever had the chance to meet or ride with the man has a story to tell.

My first time meeting him was at Barrett Junction and it was obvious that he was willing to push the envelope. Waldo only knew how to charge into things hard.

At Barrett Junction I saw him crash twice and both times were crazy. I know he liked the way I told the story of his crash. I was street luging right behind him and almost got tangled up in his wreck with Niko Kroha. “It was probably better to crash there then to make it,” Waldo said after I told him my recollections about watching his crash and how crazy it was. I pretty much had first row seats to the crash following right behind him down the hill.

Waldo Autry’s crash with Niko Kroha was one of the gnarliest street luge crashes that I have witnessed in person.

Niko was out in front of Waldo, I was right behind them and Tabitha Mitchell was right behind me.

Waldo went for the pass on Niko on the inside. Niko was pretty far inside though and there wasn’t much room for him to pass.

Instead of throwing his feet down and braking Waldo was trying so hard to pass Niko two of his wheels left the road for a second. As soon as this happened he got the speed wobbles and wobbled straight through the right hand turn before Docs corner.

As he wobbled through the turn he clipped wheels with Niko causing him to lose his line.

Waldo hit the rock and dirt covered wall at around 45 mph and the wall exploded around him.

After his wheel was clipped Niko was also headed to the dirt and rock wall. As soon as his luge left the road the front dug into the dirt and catapulted him into the wall.

Me and Tabitha Mitchell threw our brakes down because we were right behind them when all this went down and the crash looked pretty intense.

I looked up to the crash scene and waldo was laying on the side of the road not moving. His street luge was flipped upside down on top of him.

Niko was also walking towards Waldo. “Waldo? (no response)…….Waldo are you there?” said Niko.

All of a sudden Waldo started shaking around and shoving the street luge off of himself. “I was just checking everything out, making sure I was alright” said Waldo.

Waldo Autry was a man, a legend and a friend to everyone who knew him. His passing is definitely a big blow to the community but he is a man who will never be forgotten.
The stories about him will live on forever. – Lee

So, we were out bombing hills and a car full of people saw us and stopped us. They seemed really excited on what we were doing. “Are you guys doing that land luge thing” said Frank Maney of VMX Life. We told him to follow us if they wanted to see something cool. They video taped us bombing the hills and were sooo stoked they edited a video. I want to get into their world of vintage motocross racing and they want to get into the street luge world.

Anyways I was really, really stoked to see this video. Thanks sooooo much Frank Maney and everyone else in your car. Go check out www.vmxlife.com if you want to see something cool!

www.vmxlife.com

www.vonbone.com

Hey kids! Justin here – bringing you a quick rap-up from the Gnar Path skate race put on by Nathan Marton in a cool little park in Yorba Linda on August 4th.

The even featured four different mini-events, including (from the event page):

Intermediate Course – For skaters of an intermediate skill level and above. Does not require pre-drifting. Includes a grass-romp as part of the course. 1 man timed trials, fastest man wins

Advanced Course – For skaters of an advanced skill level. Requires medium speed drifting or LOTS of footbraking on a very narrow sidewalk (stand up drifts highly recommend). Utilizes all 5 corners on the hill, riders will stay on the sidewalk the entire time. NOT FOR BEGINNERS. 1 man timed trials, fastest man wins.

Butt-Board – Requires basic buttboarding skills. Riders will be going down the Advanced course including all 5 corners which requires lots of braking (but isnt all that hard while buttboarding). 1 man timed trials, fastest man wins.

Freeride – Steeziest run competition down the advanced course. Speed is not important, style and awesomeness is. Sidewalk is narrow so slides will need to be on point (stand up HIGHLY recommended).

The park was choice, and plenty of shade was available throughout the day, making for a very nice venue. Most of all, since it was in a public park, the event was entirely legal, and no cops showed up atall throughout the entire event. The hill was intense, with 5 almost-hairpin turns, and butter pavement with only one or two ‘lips’ in the concrete to watch out for. The grass-romps for the intermediate level were perfectly placed to allow you to cut speed, but still made it challenging for riders to hook back up with the course. A solid number of people showed up, including Kyle Chin, Dave Rogers, the infamous Dubes, and some fine ladies from One11.

The event went off without a hitch and is definitely one to look out for next year!

You stay classy So-Cal,

Justin

Please visit our sponsors who help make all of this possible:

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Riding by: Adam Smith

Video by: Christina Barea

Music by: Dimarco

This is a rad little video of Adam Smith shredding around on a cool looking longboard doing some stair drops and a few other rad variations. Looks like fun Adam! Thanks for sending this in guys. Find them on youtube at PushitProductions. – Leecifer

Hey there boys and girls – Justin here, giving you the low-down on IDGR #4 – Curvy Canyon, the fourth event in the Irvine Downhill and Garage Riders Downhill Race Series. We had a little difficulty with my permissions on the site, so this is a bit late, but we got it figured out!

Yours truly actually hosted this race, and we had a location set in the North Fullerton/Rowland Heights area for last Sunday the 24th. Everyone showed up bright and early, ready to race, but not 2 practice runs in and the Sheriff rolled up! Some type of wedding event was taking place up the road, so lots of people were parked along the sides, and I assume someone walking to or from their car give Johnny Law a ring for us. Luckily, the Sheriff was super cool, and was telling us that apparently he used to luge up at GMR back in the day! Legit! Unfortunately, since people had complained, he said we had to go. He even suggested other roads to go ride, and that in the future, we start earlier in the morning to avoid him having to come out. If you’re gonna get rolled, at least that was the way to do it. I’m definitely still looking forward to holding another race on that hill, and those lucky enough to get some runs in seemed to really enjoy it – luck just wasn’t with us that day.

We kicked around the idea of skating anyways for a while, but decided it was best to just be respectful and ride the backup hill. I actually had two in mind – one that was a lot closer, but just a mellow bomb, and one a little further north that had more turns and more speed. A vote was taken, and the gnarlier hill was chosen! A 40mph-ish bomb through 4-5 sweepers in a scenic little canyon kept everyone on their toes, but was safe for all skill levels. Everyone who came out  drove the extra 15 or so minutes out to a secret spot in West Covina (except a van full of 5-year-olds from Laguna whose dad didn’t want to drive anymore – we didn’t miss em!), where the race went off without a hitch! Neighbors there were stoked to see us and the hill was prime.

Heats were assigned at random, and a four-man, top-two-advance format was used, including a consolation bracket that let everyone race at least twice and gave people a shot to get back in to the semi-finals. About 13 people raced, and the final heat came down to Drew Edwards, Phillip “Swagmaster” Crow, Nathan Marton, and Markise Gladney. Markise showed up in his bright green super-suit and half-shell, but still managed to put at least two solid body-lengths on the other riders, and took an easy first. The rest of the podium was hard-fought, with Nathan pulling off second, Drew snagging third, and Swagmaster rounding out fourth place.

Some epic, custom California-themed trophies were provided by Brian “Hernan” Vigil of Unmodern Industries/Black Velvet Slide Pucks/Never Grow, and 1st through 4th took one home. We managed to give out over $120 in cash money to the winners from the entry fees plus some extra dough provided by sponsors Icaro Aero Helmets and Unmodern Industries. Black Velvet/Unmodern also sent out a bag of their famous collaboration Cali toe-stops that a couple people were able to snag, and Rayne Longboards sent a package out that didn’t make it in time but will be included in one of the next events! Also, big ups to Axl Dyer and Katie Fredericks for helping me run the event, to our guest photographer Caylin Schutz for the great pics, and to everyone who helped shuttle. Word on the street is that IDGR #5 is going to be a slide competition, so be on the lookout for that and lots more from the IDGR and Adrenaline-Fueled!

You stay classy So Cal!

- Justin

Filmed by: Rob Nickell

Edit by: Brandon Johnson

Starring: Brandon Johnson, Sean Brinegar and kid in the blue helmet (send us your name and we’ll add it.)

A rad little shredder I have seen grow a lot as a skater sent us this video to add to the site. His name is Brandon Johnson and this video is super rad. The video is a four minute raw video of a really really rad run in an undisclosed location.

This is a 50+ mph run and it is obvious that these guys are quite confident in their abilities at those speeds. Breaking the speed limit is such a rad thing….when your on your skateboard! I don’t know about anyone else but breaking the speed limit on your skateboard is super duper bad ass! It’s an adrenaline rush, you can feel the wind, hear the wind and that’s how you know your going fast. That’s a good feeling, that is something a very small percentage of people that ride skateboards can say they do.

“Going fast is fun but scary because you can see all the objects moving behind you through your peripheral vision.” – Brandon Johnson

A video submitted by Adam Smith of Push It Productions.

Find them on FACEBOOK

Peter Kell has a creative and entertaining way of reviewing his top 5 most kick ass boards in longboarding.

Edit By: Peter Kell

5. Kevin Reimer’s custom made carbon fiber Rayne Killswitch

4. 313 Skateboards “The Bird”

3. Airflow “Bracket”

2. WeFunk “Roadmaster” with no cutouts

1. 42″ OG Sector 9 Race deck

Video Edited and shot by: Tye Donnelly
Each SDDRL (San Diego Downhill Racing League) is a story of it’s own and this one was a story of legends. I mean both both Dave and John Rogers were there, Dave Hackett, Chris Yandall, Lynn Kraemer just to name a few. The raddest part of the whole thing was seeing Jay Adam’s show up. Jay Adams is the first skateboarder ever. The original. He was from before the dogtown era and helped pioneer skateboarding.

The hill was mellow and fun with speeds topping off around 40 and some good racing. Live music was being played on the drums and guitars and everyone chowed down on some burgers. All in all it was a totally rad and awesome time. An SDDRL to remember. Another chapter in the book.

Groms

1st- Ethan Vinograd

2nd- Jesse French

3rd- Elijah Vinograd

Open

1st- Gregg Kent

2nd- Ben Hryn

3rd- Nathan Bryant

Masters

1st- David Rogers

2nd- Jonny Miller

3rd- John Rogers

Related Posts

Hard Times With Jay Adams

SDDRL # 38 “A New Beginning”

SDDRL # 37 “Road Signs”

SDDRL # 36 “Lessons Learned”

SDDRL # 35 “The Stand”

SDDRL # 34 “Spill Hill”

SDDRL # 33 “Talegadega Nights”

SDDRL # 32 “Bombing Party”

SDDRL # 31 “Mob Rules”

SDDRL # 30 “Boardstock”

SDDRL # 24 “Another brick in the wall”

SDDRL # 23 “Pin it to win it”

SDDRL # 22 “Pump Station”

SDDRL # 18 “Talega”

LADRL # 1 “The Great Mountain Race”