This week’s Shot of the Week is from Jim Gray, pictured at Skate City in Whittier, CA. This shot was used for his first advert ever, which was in Action Now magazine, circa 1980 or so. He can’t remember who took it, and I can’t seem to find it in the couple of Action Now’s that I have access to. So maybe our readers can help. I’m working on putting together an interview with Jim, so if anyone has any questions they’d like me to consider, go ahead and email them to me.
Check out the Shot of the Week.
16 comments
chris
awesome!!! my childhood brought back to life! ( if he crashed) lol!skate parks were exteremely rare in Oz in the 80’s. our 1st halfpipe was 6 ft high with 2 ft of vert! we changed that pretty quick . . .
Livmo
From Jim’s comment when he posted the above pic a few weeks back on FB, this board was a custom so it was longer than the production sidecut boards and he staggered the rails to make up for the length.
The Gullwing groove was a cosmetic thing styled after their original split axle design, which by the way was advertised as not to grind or hang up on edges when doing wheelers.
BTW, the metal Lip-Slider
K.C.
Yes, the Lapper predates the Disaster.
Before then, nobody knew you could just rock that back in and not hang up. Home made copers out of shopping cart handels, pvc coping, necessity is the mother of invention. Thank god we came back to our senses.
curtis
Lappers gave me a seemless smooth way up sidewalk curbs
JBH
This was several years before Ugly Stix reared their (ugly) head. Curtis is right, the G&S rails were really thin, both in width and in height. And I think the reason people like Gray and Blender doubled them up is because a single set sometimes got hung up between coping blocks when doing slide-n-rolls. IIRC, they weren’t any shorter than, say, Powell’s Rib Bones, but a lot of boards at that time had longer wheelbases–say, 16″ or so. So compared to nowadays, yes, his board has a longer wheelbase. But for the time, it was just a typical board. (Remember, no nose to speak of.)
As for Lappers, they were supposed to help you avoid rear-truck hangups. Maybe they helped a few people, but they never did shite for me.
Jeff
I always thought the groove in gullwings were nothing more than cosmetic and gave them a reason to be called gullwings. It seemed the kingpin bolt always stuck up right in the middle so any advantage the grove gave you on coping or a pipe was negated anyway. And what were lappers for anyhow? I remember all the old boards had them, then suddenly they didnt. If they were so necessary how come you cant find them anymore?
Fitz
You cut a groove into your Indys? To each his own, and I totally understand nostalgia, but is there any reason why, or did I just figure it out? Not trying to be an ass, just curious. I had a few pairs of Gullwings, and they served me well, though the groove never seemd to help or hinder my skating…
brad
weren’t Ugly Stix made by “Mel-O-Dee products”?
Skatepunk.com
Those are definitely G&S rails, they were shorter than others, and everyone on the team except Miller at this time doubled them up… I love these and still rock them on my boards now, along with my Gullwing groove notched into Indys. By the wail, the Firm and Black Label have both made rails recently based on these G&S rails, I think Lucero still does.
RIpPeR
Jim Gray kills!! Great pic!!
Fitz
You could be right. The Ugly Sticks were pretty long. And being a pretty avid fisherman, I know of no connection between the cheap rails and rods of the same name.
curtis
I think you are wrong on that Fitz. I rode Ugly Styx (or sticks) too, and always wondered if they were connected to the fishing pole brand of the same name. but when I saw this photo it reminded me of how tiny the G&S rails were. they had about half the “flesh” of any other rail. but in this photo Jim uses two sets for length. I don’t remember the G&S rails being too short. is Jim riding a longer wheelbase board in this Photo?
Fitz
Double-dose of ugly-sticks! I had those, and a lapper, and then I got all core and decided to pull ’em all off. First dude at my school to do it, and oh dang, I had cred…
JPK
And a lapper too, that’s a lot of plastic!
JPK
It looks like he’s got two sets of rails on his board. You can see it better in the enlargement.
Slitburn
Whittier! The only time I went there was the day they were dozing it. We took about 20′ of coping, drove it up to the Bay Area in a VW rabbit (it was riding low), and put it on my ramp.