NEVER posted, Cali # 3
Danny Connor posted,
So, this was gonna get posted a while ago. I know it's long, very late, maybe hard to read, but I wrote it RIGHT after the race. I was told a while ago that it would be submitted...here's the unedited version, straight from my head! I would have psoted earlier had I known. Hope you enjoy!
Another race, another notch in the belt, another year gone by for me. I put on the # 3 race in the California Republic Stand Up Outlaw Series. It was on March 22, 2008. I knew it was bound for greatness, I just couldn’t have ever imagine the level. The race is also held to celebrate my birthday, thus a reason to party even harder. Reed was the first racer got get here and he even met me the parking lot of the Home Depot after I picked up a broom to go clean the hill Friday afternoon. That’s pretty much when the weekend started for me. We jammed to the hill on got on it, having it clean in about 15 minutes. After hitting up the beer store, and with not much else to do but wait, we went to my house. For the next couple hours, we just chilled and told stories and slowly but surely, other riders and friends were showing up. I left for a few to go meet up with Kelcey from NJK to get measured for a suit. We met at a gas station right outside my house and when I pull up who do I see? Noah, Patrick and Eli. After lots of hugs and high-5’s, we all got measured, asked a few questions and chatted with Kelcey for a while and bailed. They followed me back to my house where quite a few more people had gathered so we posted up. Before I knew it, the Sector box-truck pulled up. They had all sorts of goodies for me, I got a big Easter basket with a kite and candy, some race boards and a very special surprise. They made beer coozies(coolers, cozies, holders) with messages on them, "Happy B-Day Danny!!! and on the other side"Hold my beer, watch this!" Good stuff. Thanks Jeff. More and more were showing up by the minute so we ordered a bunch a pizza and hung out. The team Brown van rolled up and pure madness ensued. After a brief visit from Ridgecrest’s finest, we moved the party inside. As far as describing the rest of that night, um, a little difficult. I remember wrestling with Eli and just running around hootin’ and hollerin’. In typical fashion, well all stayed up pretty late and carried on pretty hard despite the race being the next morning....Oh wait! I made the race at noon! I knew I did that for a reason!
The next morning was very cool. I woke up at a fairly reasonable time(like, 10) and everyone seemed to be on the same page. One after the other would wake up, look around all confused, get up and start putting their things away. It was rad. At that point, people seemed to be showing up like old ladies to a garage sale. Before I know it, my front yard was totally full of downhill skaters from all over. Canada, Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Colorado and all parts of California. I was given a little megaphone as a gift the night before so that was a huge help. I got everyone to throw down for the race as well as the BBQ. Once we got all the names and money, it was time to pick heats. The order the names were picked were the way they were wrote down. It seemed to work out pretty well. A total of 9 heats, 4 person, 2 with 5. Soon after a few group pictures and some more chatting, we gathered up our things and everyone went to the hill.
It was an awesome day, Sunny, clear, warm and barely breezy. In very short time we had skaters being taken to the top with all the impatient ones walking or skating up. I remember having about 20 people hanging all over my truck almost every time we’d go up, it was a pretty funny sight. We did about 3 practice runs and then onto racing. I wanted most of the racers to be able to watch so I only took the two heats that were to go up to the top at a time. This was so everyone what wasn’t racing right away could watch the bottom turn and I didn’t have 40 people looking over my shoulder as I was calling the heats out at the top, which, by the way, turned out real well as far as I’m concerned. The racing was sick! Everyone pushing off hard and going into the first right-hander in a tight pack. There were only a few crashes in the first turn all day but it seemed someone in almost every heat went down in the last lefty. It wasn’t all that fast but the turn was a little slippery and you had to have just the right line to make it. No one got hurt (very badly) but it was very comical. Racers flying into the turn with no regard for personal safety made for great entertainment. Some were going down like dominoes, some looked like they didn’t even try to make the turn and it all resulted in a huge dust cloud and a bunch of laughing and "OOOOOHHHHH!"I was at the top every time and could hear the crowd at the bottom, hilarious. Well, after all the heats were ran, the 4 riders who seemed to not get their leathers dirty all day were the 4 who won. Billy Meiners, Dave Price, Rob KcKendry and Noah Sakamoto made up the final 4 in finishing order. I was lucky enough to get to see the finals from the bottom and that shit was SICK! With racing over, we did a few fun runs with people hanging all over my Mom’s VW and some dude’s Civic, pretty funny. My Mom had if floored and we were doing like 15. As soon as all got their fill of fun runs, we packed it all up (even the garbage, always pack your trash) and went to the skate park for the awards.
The skate park in Ridgecrest is nothing special, but it’s safer than being at the hill for longer. Once again, everyone showed up little bit by little bit while some of us were sessioning the park. I was just doing my regular lines, little ollies, early grab airs, Mercado was jamming around as well as Billy Bones as if they had skated the park for years, Budro was doing fs smith’s, laybacks and bonelesses while Patrick, JM and Noah were flying around doing all sorts of crazy step-hops and slides. James Kelly was charging around on a super flexy Loaded board like a mad-man. Just like before, no one got hurt and it was nothing but smiles and laughs. We did the awards, everyone who podiumed got a Sector 9 pack including a race board, shirt and race wheels. Thanks again Dave Rogers for making the sickest trophies to date. With the awards done, many had to leave to go home, which was a bummer because the party that happened afterwards was unreal...
A couple of us went shopping while everyone else went back to the house for showers and a moment of relaxation. We got tons of dogs, burgs and beers for the hungry racers back at base camp. When I pulled up to my house I saw about half of the people sitting in the cool grass next to the driveway and I even remember saying something like "Holy shit, look at all these people still here. And even some guy sleeping under a blanket!" Well, it was no guy, it was Kaile Hart! Whoops, my bad! I just assumed, and you know what they say about assuming...All the groceries were brought inside as we prepared for the feast. At this point, I was so haggard and crispy from yelling out heats, trying to keep us on track, racing, skating, as well as the night before. I think my good friend saw it in my eyes because none other than Rob McKendry the 3rd came up and offered to cook for everyone. "Danny, I'l do it dude. Don't even worry. I've got it handled. You've been nothing but accomodating. Let ME help YOU!" I’ll be honest, I was in no mood to do it but was going to anyway, so when he came up and asked if he could do it, I felt like I could actually keep going. Thanks again Rob, that was awesome. I went and got myself a shower and by the time I came down, he was in full on line-cook mode. All I had to do was give him the goods and watch him fuck that grill up. I even remember my buddy Aaron saying to me "Damn, does that dude work at a ski resort or something, the only place I’ve ever seen people cook like that was at June mnt." Ha ha. I let him in on Rob’s secret and we had a good laugh. Everyone who wanted dogs or burgs seemed to have gotten fed, I didn’t hear any rumbling bellies, so it was on to PARTY time. From that point on, it is a huge blur to me, not because I was faded yet, but there were so many people at my house, all the racers, their friends or family, my friends and family, even my boss came and partied with us for a while. Dudebro bought me a cake and had everyone sing "Happy Birthday" which was very cool. Someone even put a joint in it and lit it like a candle, and of course some of the frosting ended up in my hair and face. Nothing but beers, shots, laughs, yelling, party in the back yard, party in the kitchen and party in the living room and at one point there was even a hukha on my kitchen table being passed around like a hot potato. The party seemed to really blast off when Justin aka "Jim Callahan" picked up my guitar and started jamming. At first it was him and a couple of others in the living room rocking out and then all of the sudden, the whole party was gathered around with JM sitting close to the guitar, singing freestyle reggae while others where harmonizing or chiming in with a verse or two. I even looked over and saw some percussion being played on with an empty 5 gallon water bottle! It was going off. Then, as if it were all planned out, someone started to sing about Big Red being passed out on the couch. How this kid could sleep though all this, I will never know. Well, that one little spark turned into a huge flame with everyone, and I mean everyone, singing to Big Red. We all stood up and crowded around him singing "Big Red, Aye, Big, Big, Big Red, RED!" I thought I was going to die. He finally woke up and we all cheered hysterically. It was amazing. After all that nonsense, we realized that the beer was not flowing like the salmon of Capistrano (Dumb and Dumber anyone") So we did the sensible thing, that was to have everyone willing grab boards and skate to the bar located right down the street. Now to paint this picture, imagine about a dozen of more of us, who had already been drink all day, skating to the bar in a town where me and my friend Randy are the only 2 who really do that. People in ridgecrest don't skate to the bar. We arrived to the bar which was cool, they even let us put our boards into a little room, and soon after, we started ordering drinks and playing pool. Now, at this point, I assumed that it couldn’t get any wilder, any crazier or any sillier but like I said, I assumed. The only way I can explain this is pure madness. You know how when your drunk and everything seems like a good idea? Well, I think I saw light bulb flash over everyone’s heads as we took to the dance floor like little kids to a freshly cracked pinata. I mean, this shit was so out of hand that more that a few times I would just stop dead in my tracks and start laughing so hard that I couldn’t see. JM and Eli weren’t even wearing shoes, Noah was even out there, Mercado was doing his thing, we were all making fools of ourselves. I’ll tell you what though, Jon Huey, the shredder who takes pictures and skates equally as well, that guy can cut a fucking rug like a carpet knife. He was an animal. Every time I looked over, he was going completely insane; twisting, hopping, doing like old-school Russian type dancing, 80’s flash-dancing, hip-thrusts and I swear to everything holy, even saw him jump down and start humping the ground with the gnarliest look on his face to boot. I think if the whole bar, being the bartenders, waitresses and patrons, would just look around and say "What the fuck?" and then pick their mouth’s up off the floor. It was classic. I guarantee that bar has never seen anything like that before and never will again. Well, after everyone got kicked out one by one, we decided to bail. I loved how on the way home, it seemed that every time I turned around, someone would slam. I guess I had a pretty fair advantage knowing that route like the back of my had. After that, my memory gets pretty foggy. "Blah, arghh, ughhhh" That's all I got.
The next morning was pretty brutal. I woke up on the couch because someone stole my bed, complete with permanent marker drawings of a penis on my forehead a bunch of lines on my face and "Happy B-day Danny. I am dick biscuit" written on my arm. It was worth it, the fun that we had will not be matched too soon. Total Canadian style race and party here in a little southern California desert town. Everyone headed out pretty early in the morning to go skate GMR and Baldy. I was left to stay and clean up, which, by the way was a 3 day chore. At least Karla helped with what she could Sunday morning.
Yep, that’s pretty much it. I heard nothing but good things and if anyone has something to suggest to make it better, let me know. Thanks to Sector 9 for coming out and really setting a good vibe for racers and spectators alike, Everyone was stoked to see the Sector9 truck in Ridgecrest, thanks for all the goodies too. Thanks to TSR for the gloves and other prizes. Thanks to Dave Rogers and Red for the trophies, thanks to all who helped clean up, cook, or anything else that weekend, I needed it. MOST OF ALL!!!! THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO SHOWED UP, BE IT FOR RACING, WATCHING OR PARTYING!!!!! My job was made very easy by all of you, I didn’t have to repeat myself a thousand times, there weren’t a bunch of stupid questions, everyone handled it like pros at the race, being ready when called and not making anyone wait at the line for too long, there were no fights, no one bumming anyone else out, none of that. If it weren’t for all of you, this would have been much harder and it would have taken a lot longer, I would have been frustrated and the whole weekend would not have been as fun or gone a smooth. THANKS YOU ALL AGAIN. GIVE YOURSELVES A ROUND OF APPLAUSE! I look foward to next year and can’t wait to see you all again. I hope you had fun...
DC
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Wednesday, March 05, 2008
California Stand Up Series, Race 3
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That's it, March 22. Race in a secret location (it is an outlaw, so you'll hear about it. I don't need everyone knowing where it is). Awards at the skatepark, party at my house after, then we're going to the bar! So far I've got people coming from Canada, Oregon, Northern California, Souther California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Hawaii. Come hang out, come watch, come wish me happy Birthday. Keep checking back for updates.
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Thursday, February 21, 2008
Next chapter
Rad, I just got a hair cut. The reason being, I have a job interview tomorrow. Oh and no more beard, no more really gnar handle-bar either. Should be chill. Mon-Fri, 8 to midnight. This means I still have time to skate and other things during the weekend, which is vital. An extra 20(or so) hrs a week of work never hurt anyone. I just hope it doesn't conflict with my racing schedual. Speaking of racing...I have a race this Sunday in Frazier Park Ca. Never been, but I heard the hill is gnar. EVEN BETTER, 40% chance of rain and I hear there is snow on the road already. Looks like a Barrett repeat. I'll come away squeaky clean and with a 1st place trophy, sounds good to me. Also, I really need to promote my race that will be held in Ridgecrest in about a month so I need to post pics on my profile. I don't know how to use photobucket let alone put them on my page after I do. Can I get some help? Thanks for comin' I'll let you all know how the race goes!
2008 April 24 6:05 AM
Danny Connor replied,
sorry abou those last parts, i copied it off my myspce, and, im drunk