Monday, November 3, 2008

Lori Rigsby.



Lori Rigsby rode for Powell Peralta and had a part in Public Domain. She did a lot of technical mini ramp tricks and thus became the dream girl of numerous lonely boy skaters who were looking for a lady friend that understood skateboarding. Then she kind of just disappeared.

Now about the Indy ad. If anybody under thirty actually reads this, there used to be a rivalry between Independent and Tracker trucks. (Wait, you've never heard of Tracker? Well, there used to be a company by that name that made things to hold the wheels on your board. Tony Hawk even rode them.) The rivalry sort of lives on today with Transworld versus Thrasher. Transworld was started by Tracker owner Larry Balma before eventually winding up in the hands of AOL Time Warner. Balma's problem with Thrasher was that they kept it a little too real with things like swearing, sex, drugs and rock & roll. The Skate & Destroy motto didn't sit too well with the Tracker camp either. As a result, Transworld was started. Anyway, about the trucks. Trackers had plastic baseplates that were designed to make the trucks lighter. They were also more likely to break since plastic obviously isn't as strong as aluminum. So there you go. Indy disses Tracker.

The photo is credited to a Mr. Richard Meter. Pen name? Probably.

Thrasher - June 1989 Volume 9 Number 6

17 comments:

Royce said...

Gonz rode for tracker as well.

Anonymous said...

I never heard of this girl, wonder what shes up to now?

By the way,


you dont get nearley enough attention than you should have.

this site rocks keep doing what your doing!

John Mark said...

I broke 2 pairs of Trackers and that was little old 120 lbs me. Never the baseplate either, always the truck. My favorite trucks were either a neon green pair of Gullwings I got off a kid down the block who had preserved them perfectly underneath copers and lappers, or a set of maroon anodized indy 169s.

Anonymous said...

I cracked the hangers on some Tracker Aggros, but I never broke the baseplates. Those were all metal. I only had one set of Trackers with the plastic anyway. One of my friends had them because that's what Vallely rode and his were busted up pretty good.

I'm very lightfooted and I've only broken one board from skateboarding in twenty some years. I did snap a bunch in anger back in the day. I always crack the hangers on Ventures these days. The park I skate at has metal ledges on concrete and I think that is a rough impact on trucks once they get to be a year old.

disco boy said...

lori was kinda dope. i'm glad i'm not the only one who remembers her.

way back when, i rode the tracker ultra-lites, and i snapped a few of those kingpins. all and all, they weren't bad trucks, they had a mellow turn to them.

hope all's well with you, lori.

Anonymous said...

Lori (proper spelling of last name Rigsbee) is a CPA, still lives in Del Mar not far from where she grew up, and works at th Del Mar Fairgrounds right across from where Del Mar Skate Ranch was... not skating too much anymore, but last I spoke to her she was occasionally surfing and snowboarding still. Not sure if it's Public Domain or Ban This or Propaganda, but she's got a little section in one of the Powell videos and can also been seen at Chris Borst's house in Animal Chin. Lori ripped. I had the pleasure of being her boyfriend for a couple of years in the late 80s hen we built the mini ramp at her house. Great attitude, ripping skater from an awesome family. Good times...

Unknown said...

The problem with the Tracker Six Track wasn't the base plate it was always the hanger. I had two pairs and broke both sets in the same spot. I rode Gullwings and always ground them to the axles. Gullwings ruled especially the neon ones.

Anonymous said...

I started skating in 77, back then (and I was a little kid mind you) ALL the top skaters rode Trackers, a few years before Indy came on the scene. I skated pools, bowls, reservoirs, half pipes both wood and 'crete and pretty much everything else that wound up in my path. NEVER once broke a set of Trackers, and they turned (and continue to) to turn WAY better than Indy's. I understand all "The Cool Kids" went to Indy eventually (except Tony hawk), but we ALL know that was from Fausto paying them more than any other manufacturer ever did, face it. Take a look sometime in a magazine called "Concrete Wave" and see how many of the guys that skate downhill, slalom, park, pools, pipes and bowls still ride Trackers...

Anonymous said...

Glad to see this.. One of the most ignored corner-stones of the skateboarding world. Go Lori.

Anonymous said...

I used to love skating that ramp at McGills skatepark. I was probably 13 or 14 and had a big crush on Lori too. I started on Tracker trucks but moved to Indy's after a while because I thought they were cooler. They definitely looked better.

Terry Trimble said...

Lori was fun to hang out Skated with in alot of CASL contests she was a good all around skater. But excelled as a mini ramp skater but she could rip the vert with boys also.I skated her mIni ramp once a while with her old boy friend Anonymous. He is a well known skateboard photographer. Lori's Mom was the very cool person and she would invite my Mom to bring my little brother over to skate the mini Ramp.

Basically after Delmar skate ranch was bulldozed You had three place to skate Warren's ramp or Tobins ramp or Lori's mini ramp in north San Diego county if you wanted to skate transition or empty swimming pools that did not last very long.

I first met Lori at Delmar when she was young teenager when I was skating the square pool at Delmar skate ranch. At a CASL contest in Redding YMCA we skated the Mini ramp for about 2 days before the contest learned a lot about mini ramps skateboarding from her. She told me she was talking with Stacy Peralta about a pro model back then.
I wish she would have gotten but Street skating became the king around that time Freestyle, Vert,Mini ramp were dead to the magazines and manufactures.

She was fun to compete against in contest said lot of she would say a lot of funny things that would make me laugh.

K3 said...

I remember first seeing her in Animal Chin and then more prominently in Public Domain on the section with Girl skaters...I also remember a Powell Peralta Ad with Lori and some other girl skaters in a Thrasher mag. I remember thinking how cool it was to see a girl skater plus I was 13 years old and she was hot! Oh yeah, I went through 2 pairs of tracker trucks back then too. I liked that they were light, but I broke both sets of baseplates...Never broke the hanger though like others are saying.

jason said...

from what I remember, she was a cool chick. I don't know how but somehow we hooked up to skate or something back in like 91 when she came up to the OC. But yeah, she was the object to a young grom skater kid.

What I do remember is that her favorite band was Skinny Puppy! lol

Glad she is doing well.

Kuulei said...

I remember Lori when I worked at DMSR. She was an amazing skater. She was quit the catch for the young teenage boys who would die to have a chick who skated for a girlfriend. She was somewhat younger than I but I do remember that I needed a place to spend the night one night instead of going back home to OC. He family was super nice.

Anonymous said...

I have a set of Tracker ultra lites on my Gonz. They do turn nice!

LIONLEO said...

gonz rode for venture, not tracker

Justin said...

Gonz was on Tracker around about 1992 or 1993.