VISION
KATES DARDS
REAL
OSIONS
high voltage hook-ups. A guy named Hollywood
is hanging out by one of the double doors of the
service entrance. Itch asks him what he thinks of
the way the shindig is shaping up. Mr. 'Wood
matter-of-factly replies, "Liquor is better."
"Uh, Yeah. O.K. fine."
The Gimpman says, pass-
ing through the doorway.
Once inside, he grabs a
roster from the desk in
front of a lady on crutches
and checks the print to see
who will be showing up.
The names read like a
best of the best list. first,
there are the ten guys who
were automatically seeded.
based on their performance
at the Dallas mini-ramp
show held not so long ago.
They include Jeff Phillips,
Omar Hassan, Chris Miller,
Wade Speyer, Mark Roach,
Buck Smith, Tom Knox,
Danny Way, Reese Simpson
and Jeff Kendall. The roster
continues with such greats as
the world famous Tony Hawk.
Steve Caballero, I.J. Rogers (a
big local favorite), Corey
O'Brien, Chad Vogt, Justin
Girard, Alan Petersen, Ray
Barbee, Noah Salasnek, Butch
Sterbins, Eddie Elguera, Todd
Congeliere, Nicky Guerrero,
and many more. There are 72
names on the roster.
Anyone can see that the
warriors gathered for this trial of
topographies are of noble stock.
They've proven themselves.
possessors of an inborn sense,
capable of mastering versatile.
terrain devices.
Meanwhile, as Itch approaches
the voltage regulation devices, he
happens upon Butch Sterbins and
George Watanabe. When asked
what they think of the ramp, they
have little to say. Butch calls, it
"Nice and smooth and fast. A pretty big, wide
open ramp. Watanabe also likes its largeness.
San Jose
Mini-Ramp
Diagram
"It's easy to get lost, but once you get it wired,
you're good."
A man who claims to know a little something of
the particulars of this skateable monstrosity is
Steve-O Brockway.
descriptions refer to ramp diagram at bottom left).
The structure, designed by Dave Crabb, took
twenty-five hours to build, utilizing the blazing
hammerwork of Crabb, Duncan, Steve-O and
Berensen. So far the prog-
nosis on it is good.
"You're going to have to
use all of the different parts
of the ramp, which means
all of the hips," Steve-O
says. "Each hip is different.
enough that it can be used
for different things. One is
designed for big airs, one
for grinds, manuals and
fifty-fifties, and one is
designed to launch you
either way over the spine,
or right on top of it.
Barney Williams is this
guy who pretends not to
know much of anything.
yet he always seems to
get his taxes in on time.
With last year's return, he
bought a blind man's
cane. He says it could get
him into museums and
movies for less than half-
price. That's probably
how he got into the
Civic. He begins talking
with Monsieur Pierre,
who has just skated all
the way from the Palo-
Alto train station. They
speak of some of the
newest-looking stuff
they were seeing on
the ramp. Danny Way
is ripping one-footed.
360° ollies over the
hips and ollie impossi-1
bles over the spine.
less, J.J. Rogers pulls
Looking rather fear-
Bad Ass 360° body
jars over the hips.
Omar Hassan fakie ollies-to-fakie between the
transition and the spine. Jeff Phillips goes
completely against the grain, physically and
literally, leaping from ramp to ramp, from
transitions to railings to the transition of a ramp
behind another ramp.
Omar Hassan (previous page) orbits the lip with a highly stale tuna fish sandwich.
Tony Hawk (left) floats melancholy-to-fakie while a pesky shoelace flies in his face
Fast and furious fandangler J.J. Rogers (above) gets caught dealing a hefty half-
Cab-to-fakle rock off the extension with an exceedlingly high amount of speed.*
He is found devouring some slop from Jack in the
Box at the announcers' table. Between gulps he
tells Itchy that the transitions are seven-and-a-
half-feet. You got three different heights, a six and
a half, a six and a five-and-a-half. Ten-foot
flatbottoms and twelve-foot flatbottoms in two
different sections of the ramp. There are three
hips, one spine, one 'Hat' (the little flat-top
looking spine), one small four-foot extension and
three different walls (the numbers in trick
Flat Top stands strapping high-tech flash units to
the rails of the ramp. Itch and Limp, standing
below, make fun of him at every opportunity. The
crack of his butt shows below the edge of the i
frazzled leather jacket he always wears. He looks
59