Zak Grove.

Ending the year with Blockhead.

Dave Bergthold's company has become one of my favorite things in skateboarding. I always dug them back then and I appreciate what they did even more nowadays. The team ripped. The graphics were well done and stood out from what everybody else was doing, too. I also like how they are making reissues of their boards, shirts, and stickers. In fact, I usually put a Blockhead sticker on my board.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, January 20th, 2020. It's winter break time.

I'm doing a haphazard look back on 2019 so feel free to leave suggestions in the comments on what you were excited about in skateboarding from the last 12 months. I'll see what I can come up with. All the year end lists coupled with the best of the decade lists have exhausted my normal fascination with lists to the point where I don't care about making one or reading any.

Have a safe and happy new year! Thanks for all the support.

Transworld - September 1990 Volume 8 Number 9

Nicky Guerrero #4.

It's a slightly different angle of a Smith grind by Nicky. I picked up a Powell Peralta reissue of his pro model a couple of years ago. I was always a fan and had the t-shirt back in the day so it's nice to have this board hanging on the wall. It looks great.

The photo is by Sin Egelja.

Thrasher - December 1989 Volume 9 Number 12

Hugh "Bod" Boyle #6.

Merry Christmas!

Hugh hangs onto to the edge. This is a sick angle of a layback grind.

Thrasher - October 1989 Volume 9 Number 10

Jake Phelps #5.

The Cardinal Movements

When you know they won't show up
When you think it might rain
When you get it in your mind to live again

Got no tolerance for nonsense
You just get tired of pain
When you get it in your mind to live again

Those dreams are never ending
I know it's always hard to hear
Sometimes they're good
Sometimes they're bad
We always want some better way to say it
Sometimes it's best just to lay it bare

Our book has been written
You find yourself at the end
Turn it over and it disintegrates in you hands
What your touch can turn to dust
It doesn't matter very much
Because there's more time to take more past
And make more time to pay

Those dreams are never ending
I know they're always hard to hear
Sometimes they're good
Sometimes they're bad
We always want a more elegant way to say it
Sometimes it's best just to lay it bare

- The Bottomless Pit

Always remember those who have left us too soon.

Thrasher - November 1989 Volume 9 Number 11

Eric Nash #3.

The Crusher frontside grinds a pool.

I finally set up some new Ventures this year. The old ones broke after a decade of steady use, which is maybe a little too long to ride the same set of trucks. I actually put together the new set from two different pairs. My pet peeve is trucks with graphics printed on the hangers so I grabbed a pair of all silver Ventures last year. I then randomly discovered an all orange pair with no graphics at CCS of all places. After riding silver hangers with orange baseplates for so long, anything else just looked wrong to me for trucks, hence all the extra work. I'm happy with the results of my effort. I might get a little crazy and go with the reverse of these the next time I need trucks since I've got the parts. Who knows?

Thrasher - October 1989 Volume 9 Number 10

Tom Knox #6.

Are you still doing the eight-hour skate day?

Yeah, I usually wake up around eight-thirty or nine. I hate waking up past nine. I'll eat, take a shower, and then everything I do all day has something to with skateboarding. I don't drive anywhere, I just skate around everywhere. Skating all day.

Tom used to put in a full day of work for skateboarding. I think everybody does when they get hooked on it and are younger. Nowadays, I max out at the three hour mark. I still have the energy, but my ollies are not getting off the ground by the end. I usually skate about two hours a day during the nice to not awful weather. Sometimes a little more or less depending on grown up life and how much I skated the previous day.

I'm usually moving the entire time, no stopping. I know there are those all important sessions where you end up chilling and talking to everybody, but I'm going skateboarding to skateboard. This is my exercise, dang it. It's funny because I went to a park with my friend a couple years ago and he's skating, but he's also chatting it up with everybody while I'm focused on figuring my three tricks out and avoiding the BMXers. It's an interesting contrast because I'm not remotely thinking about being social.

I am slightly curious to see if I could pull off a teenage skate rat day, but it would take some planning and a couple different spots to hit up. I sort of make a parallel to a basketball game for skateboarding: you're on the court for two hours and then it's time to hit the shower before doing something else. And let's face it, when you are old, you've got a slate of household chores to get done each day, too.

*

This is a little on the late side, but congrats to Milton Martinez on winning Skater of the Year. My sleeper picks for SOTY were either Ronnie Sandoval or Collin Provost. I was hoping Alexis Sablone at least made the nominees list, but that didn't happen. She gets the Vert Is Dead Skateboarder of 2019 Award for being awesome.

For the quote: Transworld - May 1991 Volume 9 Number 5

Thrasher - December 1989 Volume 9 Number 12

Mike Conroy #4.

Never Follow.

Mike is from Virginia Beach, Virginia. He was pro for Santa Monica Airlines. His other sponsors were Gullwing and Airwalk. He had a strong bag of vert tricks that included big airs, fastplants, and seriously contorted inverts.

Here's a sticker of one of Mike's graphics from 1990. This wasn't his debut pro graphic, but probably his second or third model. I got it in 1999 at Uprise Skateshop in Chicago. They had a bunch of vintage stickers for some reason.

Transworld - August 1990 Volume 8 Number 8

Kevin Harris #2.

Royal Canadian Freestyler.

I liked his part in Ban This. Kevin did a lot of manuals and shove-its around the Rose Bowl in Pasadena with some sort of sound collage for the music. There's an AC/DC riff and spoken word news snippets set to a hip hop beat. It's maybe not actually an enjoyable tune, but it showcases some deft late 80s sampling skills and fits with the editing.

How is Ban This thirty years old now? That's a rhetorical question that does not need an answer.

Thrasher - December 1989 Volume 9 Number 12

Monty Nolder #4.

"Relax. Just relax and take your time growing up. Don't get hurt. Learn the basics, get your balance. Don't be scared, skate tough. You just gotta know where you are, and learn to fall. Someday you'll get there."

The inventor of the backside Smith grind offers up some life advice.

For the quote: Monty's Transworld Pro Spotlight. If somebody has an issue number, let me know and I'll cite it correctly. The interview was emailed to me a long time ago without such data and it's from before I started skateboarding.

The photo is by Jamie Mosberg.

Transworld - September 1990 Volume 8 Number 9

Jason Lee #8.

Brodie ollies a trash can behind the dirt mall.

The photo is by Christian Kline.

Thrasher - May 1989 Volume 9 Number 5

Jeff Grosso #9.

"Oh, yeah, with Lance Mountain's little jump box. The Grossman ollies over trash cans, with the aid of a four-inch ramp."

Mothra was taking flight in the streets thirty years ago.

For the quote: Transworld - September 1990 Volume 8 Number 9

Thrasher - October 1989 Volume 9 Number 10

Mike Vallely #8.

Oblivious.

I don't think I initially realized that this ad meant Mike had left Powell Peralta and switched to World Industries. I thought it was a neat photo. As someone who works in the printing industry, I am amused by the jab about the cost of full color.

Thrasher - July 1989 Volume 9 Number 7

Mark Cernicky.

Cernicky of Death.

Mark was one of the Chrome Dome crew and rode for Vision. As vert started to fade, he became a motorcycle enthusiast and pursued a career in the industry that is still going to this day. His son Eddie is on Krooked.

Transworld - August 1990 Volume 8 Number 8

Limpies #3.

The weirdness that was Chip Morton's oddly eccentric clothing company. This probably wouldn't fly today, would it?

Transworld - October 1990 Volume 8 Number 10

Ross Goodman #3.

The Gravedigger takes flight at Jeff Kendall's warehouse. I like that he's wearing a Lucero shirt.

The photo is credited to a Kobata. I'm not sure on a first name or if that is a nickname.

Thrasher - September 1989 Volume 9 Number 9

Chris Miller #13.

"Do you think I'm cool? Is my hair cool? What about my car?" - Chris Miller

It's cool that Jason Celaya at Welcome is making Chris Miller decks. Jason has said in interviews that he is a big fan of the art Chris does and you can see the influence on the graphics he draws.

RIP Jon Comer.

The quote is from the Best of Skate Fate by Gary Scott Davis.

Transworld - October 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

Danny Webster.

Long distance talk ain't cheap.

Danny is from England, was pro for G & S, moved to Texas for a spell, and then moved back to England. He also rode for Deathbox, the original version of Flip. Danny is apparently a drummer who played with the Anti Nowhere League in the 1990s. His first pro model for G & S featured a graphic of him talking on the phone from Texas to the UK. He racked up an enormous long distance phone bill on the company's dime and they took some of his board royalties to cover the cost. Fortunately the decks sold like hotcakes and Danny did fine for himself in the end.

Transworld - August 1989 Volume 7 Number 6

Matt Hensley #13.

Step off a curb street style.

I'm sure Matt helped sell a lot of Gullwings during the heyday of H-Street. It's also cool how he stuck with the company over the years, even when their trucks fell into the "not-fresh" category during skateboarding's painful growing phase of the 1990s.

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Ken Park #2.

Ken rode for G & S, Vision, and Planet Earth in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992, he took a crack at his own skateboard company with One More. Ken did have the insight to sponsor Jason Carney and Brian Tucci for the brief shelf life of the brand. It looks like he is working for a digital media company called Oktane these days. Ken was a vert shredder known for his invert variations and big airs. He usually skated with Chris Miller, Tony Hawk, Joe Johnson, Ray Underhill, and the rest of the San Diego/Fallbrook vert crew.

Transworld - April 1989 Volume 7 Number 2

Ron Allen #4.

Get in the groove.

It's a week of Gullwing since I forgot about their trucks last December.

My first board had a pair of red Pro IIIs with metal baseplates. I'm fairly certain I got that setup before they started making them with the plastic baseplates. It was a fortunate bit of timing to be ahead of the marketing curve. A friend started skateboarding soon after I did and he wound up with the plastic ones. Those were not very good trucks at all.

I really don't give much of a crap if people borrow, share, copy, or whatever with anything I scan in for this site. I figure the stuff is more or less public domain and should be spread around to help with the history of skateboarding. That being said, if you're a skateboard journalism site (ahem, Jenkem) and you happen to use one of my scans, please give a credit. It doesn't need to be a link, just a simple "courtesy of" will do. I've seen my scans pop up in few places over the years where they should be citing their sources in the interest of good journalism and it is mildly annoying when they don't.

Transworld - February 1989 Volume 7 Number 1

Jake Phelps #4.

"You could say 'What's on page 52 of the September 1977 Skateboarder?' And he could tell you who it is, what they're doing, who shot it, what the caption says. I mean that is mind boggling. For whatever people think about Jake, whether love him or hate him, he is probably the truest skateboarder there is. He lives and breathes it, and that's all he lives and breathes. He is one of a kind no doubt. It never fails that you can fall back on Jake to be a true skater, like it or not. Great stories or horror stories." - Lance Dawes

Still watching.

Vert Is Dead will be back on Monday, December 2nd. Have a good Thanksgiving and week ahead. I can't believe we're almost done with another year.

Joe Brook snapped the photo.

For the quote: Skate Jawn - June 2019 Issue #50

Thrasher - January 2011 Volume 31 Number 1

Hesh Crue Overlords.

The ultimate power trio in skateboarding.

I like how this has the throwback feel of a vintage multi rider ad that Santa Cruz used to run all the time.

Lance Dawes was the photographer.

Thrasher - January 2011 Volume 31 Number 1

Tom Asta.

Tom is from Langhorne, Pennsylvania. His favorite skaters growing up were Josh Kalis, Brian Wenning, and Anthony Pappalardo. He was a fan of both the fresh and the hesh in that he liked Habitat and Zero. Living in the same area as Chris Cole probably had a lot to do with his interest in Zero. Tom was sponsored by Mystery and turned pro for them in 2011. He's got a complete mastery of technical street skateboarding and can do all the flips into whatever other trick you could imagine. The guy is smooth. He switched over to Santa Cruz roughly five years ago when the Mystery was solved. His other sponsors include éS, Ricta, Bronson Bearings, Mob Grip, Kershaw Knives, and Arcade Belts. He still lives in Langhorne with his wife and kids. His parents run a restaurant there, too.

The photo is by Joey Shigeo.

Thrasher - April 2011 Volume 31 Number 4

Leo Romero #6.

"As far as retirement goes, I don’t think the term actually applies in skateboarding. It’s been a 24/7 slumber party for me. I don’t know what I want to do really. I’m always going to go on trips, even when I retire. I will still be skating for as long as possible. I think of it more as making room for new guys. There is just not enough pie left and I want to see the new kids get a little piece of what’s left."

Leo had the closing part in Brainwash. It featured his high speed assault on a variety of handrails. There are a lot of switch heelflips, too. He blasts some big ollies and displays a mastery of flip tricks done while moving very fast. Supposedly he was not thrilled with how his part in Emerica's Stay Gold turned out so he wanted to do better for himself in the Toy Machine video. Leo was awarded Thrasher's Skater of the Year for his efforts in 2010. As a side note, he was wearing shoelaces in his shoes for Brainwash.

And that wraps up a look back at the last Toy Machine video. Their new one, Programming Injection, is out now online and in the physical DVD format. Brainwash is a decent little video that gets you excited about going skateboarding. It's cool to see that nearly everybody is still on the team and has a couple of tricks in the latest project.

Griffin Collins was the photographer.

For the quote: Thrasher - November 2019 Volume 39 Number 11

Thrasher - July 2010 Volume 30 Number 7

Matt Bennett #4.

Black Heart Procession.

Matt was the newest pro on Toy Machine at the time of Brainwash, having been granted a signature board in 2010. His part is full of his classic relaxed style. There are frontside nose and board slides. He does a fakie ollie nose grind down a large banister and a fakie ollie backside tailslide on a handrail. Matt also takes pole jams up and over the top of handrails for some grinds. This Bennett grind down a handrail from the ad is the ender for his part. Actually, he switched ollied down six stairs after landing his namesake trick for the technical ender, but whatever.

The picture is by Diego Bucchieri.

Thrasher - January 2011 Volume 31 Number 1

Collin Provost #4.

The Provider.

Kyle Camarillo took the picture.

Thrasher - September 2010 Volume 30 Number 9

Nick Trapasso.

Life extension, but spelled correctly.

Nick is from Phoenix, Arizona. He was sponsored by Bootleg and Santa Cruz before being flowed boards from Listen and enjoi. Nick was added to the Toy Machine roster in the mid 2000s and turned pro in 2008. He won the X Games Real Street video contest in 2010. Nick parted ways with Toy Machine in 2011 to start Life Extention in 2012. These days he is still running Life Extention Skateboards. The pro team is him, Dan Lutheran's brother Andrew, and Blue Headey. They also have a handful of ams. His other previous sponsors include Converse and Volcom.

The photograph is by Griffin Collins.

Thrasher - June 2010 Volume 30 Number 6

Josh Harmony #2.

Houses of the holy.

Josh has a bunch of tricks in the montage section of Brainwash. I think he might have been filming for a Fallen video at the same time. He skateboards on some big handrails and mixes in a couple transfer tricks on those rails, such as a frontside bluntslide and a nose grind. He jumps onto and off of a few banisters. There is a lipslide to big spin on that wavy ledge in China. Josh ends his section with a lipslide and a frontside 5-0 down a beefy sized hubba.

The photo is by Aaron Smith.

Thrasher - December 2011 Volume 31 Number 12

Ed Templeton #30.

The sun rises again.

Poweredge - October 1991 Issue Number 36

Diego Bucchieri #5.

Chop chop.

The Butcher blasts a few gaps and spins some frontside 360 ollies for his section in Brainwash. This Smith grind is in the video. He backside 180s a double set and ollies into a few different huge banks, too.

I thought it was going to be too windy on Saturday, but it turned out to be a nice day for skateboarding at the park. Nobody else has around, probably because I'm the only guy dumb enough to bother going when it's dry in November. I stayed for a long time. Sunday was slightly rainy, although I think it would have been okay in the morning. I'm kicking myself for staying out as long as I did on Saturday night since that left me not moving very fast for Sunday. A snow storm is hitting the area today and tomorrow.

The photo is by Ale Mercado.

Thrasher - May 2010 Volume 30 Number 5

Austin Stephens #6.

I've heard about Saturday nite.

Austin opens up the team montage part in Brainwash. He cruises along doing a bunch of pole jams and big ollies. There are blunt and tail slides. His ender is a kickflip into a tall and narrow banister. My favorite trick is a huge frontside pop shove-it off a little kicker thing.

One thing about Brainwash is that it is a fairly brief video and considered more a promotional flick. It has full parts, but most tend to be on the shorter side. The new riders are introduced with comprehensive sections and there is a montage of the vets. A key factor that made it shorter was that a few of the guys had been working on other projects so footage was limited. This makes for a more watchable video because anything much past a half hour tends to be drag, especially if you want to go skateboard. I wish the DVD didn't glitch out on my player and I could watch Brainwash more often. I'm not sure if it is the disc itself or my machine. I feel it might be a combo of both.

Michael Burnett was the photographer.

Thrasher - December 2008 Volume 28 Number 12

Jordan Taylor.

He's gone for the weekend.

Jordan is from Encinitas, California. He was one of the new ams on Toy Machine and had a full part in Brainwash. He skates fast and on a variety of terrain, such as ditches, hubbas, and rails. Jordan mixes in some wallrides and manuals, too. He does a few frontside board and blunt slides. A number of tricks in his part involved going backwards at or on the obstacle, such as a frontside 180 to fakie 50-50 to half-Cab out on a hubba. He also does a frontside 50-50 to frontside railslide down the Clipper ledge. Jordan was on Toy Machine for a number of years before he left for WKND. He was granted pro status in 2017.

The photos are by Dave Chami.

Thrasher - March 2011 Volume 31 Number 3

Billy Marks #4.

Silent Star.

For his part in Brainwash, Billy defeats a lot of handrails and gaps while Trans Am plays. He does a variety of flip tricks, including nollie inward heelflips, double flips, 360 flips, and more. Tre flips are done to lipslide on rails in both stances. I kind of forgot how good he was after all these years.

The photo is by Michael Burnett, aka Burn-Dog.

Thrasher - February 2011 Volume 31 Number 2

Johnny Layton #2.

Home: Long Beach, CA

Sponsors: Toy Machine Bloodsucking Skateboard Co., Vans, Vans Apparel, Theeve Trucks, Pig Wheels, MOB Grip, Bones Swiss, and Furnace Skateshop

Biggest Switch Tré: Carlsbad gap

Dog or Cats: Dogs

Musical Genius: Ray Barbee

Worst Injury: Left ankle Bröstrom surgery

Tightest Dude on Toy: The whole team. We're like family. Matt Bennett is probably the "tightest", though.

Last Tat: Van Wastell tribute. RIP. Wish you were here, buddy.

SOTY 2010: The rebel, Leo - hands down. He deserves it.

Words to live by: Skating is for the monkeys!

The photo is by Michael Burnett.

For the Firing Line: Thrasher - November 2010 Volume 30 Number 11

Thrasher - November 2010 Volume 30 Number 11

Daniel Lutheran.

Brain Wash.

Since Toy Machine recently released a new video, I thought I'd take a look back at their last video. Released in 2010, Brainwash was directed by Kevin Barnett. It featured the talents of Leo Romero, Johnny Layton, Nick Trapasso, Billy Marks, Matt Bennett, Josh Harmony, Austin Stephens, Diego Bucchieri, and Ed Templeton. Jordan Taylor, Collin Provost, and Daniel Lutheran were the new riders. The soundtrack was heavy on the indie rock and post punk type of sounds one would expect in a Toy Machine video.

Daniel is from Albuquerque, New Mexico. He got on Toy Machine thanks to a sponsor me tape and meeting some of the guys on the team. He filled the opening part in Brainwash with a bunch of big handrail grinds and jumping down big gaps. His style seems casual and relaxed, even when he's throwing himself down large obstacles. Dan's into art and creative stuff. He is still on Toy Machine and rides for Vans.

The photo is by Joe Hammeke.

Thrasher - October 2010 Volume 30 Number 10

Kristian Svitak #4.

Spooky Svitak does a frightening footplant.

Here's a sampling of the boards 1031 was making in 2007:

A few are surprisingly skinny and the graphics cover a variety of punk rock styles. I'm not sure if those are Michael Sieben drawings or simply drawings that look like his art.

Christopher Donez was the photographer.

Boards: Thrasher - December 2007 Volume 27 Number 12

Svitak: Thrasher - October 2007 Volume 27 Number 10

Chad Knight #3.

Happy Halloween!

Creepy Chad tries to escape the evil eternal vortex.

This eerie photo is by Christopher Donez.

Thrasher - April 2007 Volume 27 Number 4

Drew Dezort.

Demonic Drew leaps into hell's abyss.

Drew is from Hudson, Ohio. Kristian Svitak hooked him up with 1031 and offered him a chance to move out to California. He worked at a Christmas tree farm in Ohio before making the move. Once out west, he got a job working in the warehouse at Black Box Distribution. Drew would pack boxes and process orders for Zero, Mystery, and Fallen. Ben Gilley is one of his favorite skaters. He was also on Vox Footwear and Theeve Trucks. His welcome to the team part for Vox in 2015 features a bunch of gnarly ripping in ditches and unique tech tricks down handrails.

Christopher Donez was the soul stealer.

For the information: The Skateboard Mag - April 2010 Issue 73

Thrasher - May 2007 Volume 27 Number 5

Jon Rojas.

As per Transworld's website from February 16, 2007:

"Jon Rojas is the new am on 1031. Jon is from Pasadena, California and can shred with the best of ’em. Go to the 1031 MySpace and check out Jon’s full length video part. This guy can crank out the video footage!"

The ghosts of the internet.

The photo is by Blanco. Anybody know a first name? Google wasn't helping at all.

Thrasher - July 2007 Volume 27 Number 7

Ben Raybourn #4.

Scary Ben throws down a spooky frontside boneless in a haunted masonite pit.

For this year's Halloween festivities, I picked out a week of 1031. Why I never thought of using a company that essentially has Halloween in their name before is beyond me. 1031 was started in 2006 by Kristian Svitak after he parted ways with the Black Label. Around about 2015, Svitak turned off the porch light and joined up with Mike Vallely's Street Plant. A few dudes around here still swear by their boards and will scrounge for dead stock in Ohio.

The photo is by Christopher Donez.

Thrasher - March 2007 Volume 27 Number 3

Dan Murphy.

Dan is from Raleigh, North Carolina. He rode for Mystery, had a stint on Foundation, and is back on the new version of Mystery. His other sponsors include Nike and Theeve Trucks. This trick was in Mystery's Black & White video from 2007. Indy, his trusty doggie sidekick, passed away in 2018. Dan's skating tends to involve blasting switch and regular tricks across large patches of real estate. He's got a really solid style and everything is popped just right.

Props to Jeremy Leabres for using a Polvo song in his Toy Machine video part.

Mike Blabac was the photographer.

Transworld - January 2006 Volume 24 Number 1

Ryan Gallant.

Kevin: Well, do you have the latest Pixies album?

Bruce: Yeah, but it sucks. All that new stuff sucks, but it's over there.

Kevin: You know, actually I was thinking of getting into something vintage. Anyway...I don't know, maybe The Doors?

Bruce: Really! Never had you figured for a Doors fan.

Ryan is from Southboro, Massachusetts. He was introduced to the skateboard world at large in the Coliseum shop video from 2002, P.J. Ladd's Wonderful, Horrible Life. The video showcased the talents of Boston area rippers Alexis Sablone, P.J. Ladd, Colin Fiske, Southie, and Jereme Rogers. Ryan had a very strong part full of well done flip tricks, big ollies off flat, and speedy ledge lines set to the music of The Doors. His hardflips are on point. He rode for Expedition, joined the reboot of Plan B, and switched back to Expedition. DC and Circa have sponsored his feet over the years. Ryan is presently doing a company called Visit.

The weather has been mixed the last few days. It's been very windy with intermittent batches of rain. I've gotten in some skateboarding after work in the driveway at my parents. I have to build a little moveable ledge type of thing because the old portable flatbar isn't really cutting it. Everything did dry up and the wind calmed down so I hit up the park later last night, too.

I had nothing for yesterday's post. I had a couple of ideas I was mulling over, but I never bothered to put the words together. They probably weren't all that great to begin with. I've decided to focus a little more on content from the 2000s moving forward, which is something I've been doing the last few months. Enough time has passed that those years can be looked at with a critical eye.

The photo is by Mike Blabac.

Transworld - June 2006 Volume 24 Number 6

Bam Margera #6.

Nothing.

Transworld - March 2006 Volume 24 Number 3

Mike "Lizard King" Plumb #2.

Fun bits of Lizard King trivia:

1. He gave out his phone number in an interview with Skateboarder Magazine.

2. He got the Deathwish logo tattooed on his neck before the company existed and was only in the planning stages. He still rides for Deathwish to this day.

3. Ryan Sheckler gave him a car after a contest for Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory television show. Sheckler won the car in a best trick contest. Lizard won a sword for his fourth place finish. When it was realized Lizard didn't have a car, the two swapped prizes.

4. He might be responsible for the awkward trend of slapping the bottom step with your tail or rail after leaping down a set of stairs.

5. Geoff Rowley punched him in the nose and broke it.

I've been digging the parts of the new Toy Machine video that have been popping up on Thrasher. I hope this one does come out on DVD because it looks totally worth viewing multiple times in the living room.

For the facts: Transworld - March 2010 Volume 28 Number 3

Thrasher - July 2006 Volume 26 Number 7

Steve Nesser #4.

Minnesota North Star.

Nesser was on a serious spot killing spree in the 2000s. Handrails, gaps, weird transitions, and whatever else got wrecked all over the world.

Ian O'Connor took the photo.

Transworld - June 2006 Volume 24 Number 6