OF
FLYING
FEAR FLY
Modern day downhill
skateboarding hasn't changed
much over the years. It's always
been a skater, a board and
whatever got between him and
the bottom of the hill.
Above: Fat City racing rides again!
(or walks up the hill, anyway.)
Randy Smith, Wet Willie, Don Bostic
and Rich Maile checking the
groove on Bass Lake
road near Sacramento, CA. The
road sign tells the rest.
Middle: There's nothing like
friendly dicing between friends at
50+ mph. Wet Willie, in front,
slowing near the bottom of the hill.
Bottom: An assortment of
speed machines.
PART TWO
by Don Redondo
You walk up the hill, kicking small
pebbles and debris out of the way and
observing the contours of the road like
an Indy car driver the night before the
race. Or, you end up at the top of the
hill from the other direction, totally
oblivious. It doesn't matter-you're at
the top looking down a massive ribbon
of asphalt separating you from the bot-
tom. It looks fast. Yeah, real fast. Even
in a town with lots of hills there is only
one: the biggest, the meanest, the
fastest. No matter what the name is, the
mere mention of it produces that weird
little feeling in the stomach of every
skater who has not conquered it and the
many it has conquered. The feeling is
fear-the mastery of it is speed.
In the dawning days of the urethane
wheel, the few skateboard companies
that did exist advertised in surf
magazines. One of the earliest ads I can
remember showed 24", 27" and 30"
fiberglass, no-kick skateboards made by
Bahne. The 30" board was called the
"downhill" board. A picture showed
Danny Trailer squatting barefoot surfer-
stance, wearing a motorcycle helmet
and screaming down a hill past some
bushes on open-bearing urethane
wheels.
Not long after, out came another ad
that read, "Bahne skateboards clocked
at over 40 mph." This ad showed Den-
nis Shufeldt in gum-soled lowrider
shoes, no socks, long pants and no
shirt, crouched in a feet parallel tuck
with his arms out in front like Superman.
When Skateboarder mag reappeared in
1975, one of the articles in the first issue
was on downhilling, written by Shufeldt.
The profile of Dennis in his original tuck
(which he called a "fairing") would later
be used as a logo for the magazine.
The best skaters back then were more
versatile. Alva, for instance, besides
tying for first in the first bowlriding con-
test ever, at Carlsbad, also competed in
the downhill and slalom events-
probably on the same board. He was
also credited with a hair-raising story
about shooting a busy hill and passing
cars on the left, only to be confronted
with cars coming up the hill. With death
inches away in either direction he tucked