In 1975, Gary Fluitt was 10 years old and cruising alone on his skateboard down the main drag in Los Osos, along California’s central coast, when a man he did not know pulled up in a 1967 green Ford Thunderbird with a white interior.
He said, “ ‘Hey, man, want to go to a skateboard race?’ †Fluitt recalled.
Fluitt acknowledged that more than 30 years ago, childhood and skateboarding were perhaps more innocent. So he climbed into the car and was taken across town, where he watched competitors boom down a street with a steep grade, weaving among cones in an attempt to post the fastest time. For Fluitt, the race had the right ingredients: speed, excitement and a little danger…Â Details & pictures