Show Extreme sport taken to next level Dan Morse The Washington Post There is a popular image of the extreme sports guy roughly 19 years old baggy jeans and frequent frequent frequent fre fre- fre- fre quent use of the words dude and stoked while flipping up and down on big ramps Bob Swartz doesn't fit it Hes He's 46 Married with two kids L w J 3 r 4 I GI GIC oaf C GI GIGI GI 0 GI JJ o 0 he lives on a wooded sac de in Waldorf He is an engineering technician for the US U.S. Naval Research Laboratory where he helps build classified antenna and computer systems around the globe But his sport of choice is street luge He lies on his back on an elongated skateboard two inches inch inch- es from the ground Feet first he flies down roads at more than 60 mph He recently finished second second second sec sec- ond at a race in Upstate New York To stop he uses his feet Luge Cont on Page 5 Luge Cont from front generating so much smoke that hes he's had to glue strips of motorcycle tires to the bottom bottom bottom bot bot- tom of the wrestling shoes he wears while racing Like other things he does Swartz's plan to take the sport more mainstream begins to make sense only after hes he's had a long time to explain it In this case he recently bought a jet engine one engine one designed for unmanned military aircraft aircraft- and attached it to the back of ofa a luge He gives exhibitions at major drag races having thus far hit mph He aims to break the coveted mph barrier perhaps by advancing to a twin-engine twin design next year What possessed you to do this Swartz was asked last weekend over a strip drag-strip public address system in Rockingham NC To draw attention to gravity gravity gravity grav grav- ity sports he told the crowd referring to how he races down hills lt without jet ety races s. s uJ i y yr r I u r power Then he s the l i jy track As part of Rockingham's pre- pre Halloween nighttime races Swartz donned a in glow-in- the-dark the skeleton suit over his thick protective leather racing uniform He also wears a motorcycle helmet Swartz grew up the son of a wallpaper hanger and a nurse in southern New Jersey As a year 7 he remembers he fashioned a go-cart go out of wood scraps and a set of small wheels his grandfather gave him He rebuilt bikes and lawnmowers His parents parents parents par par- thought hed he'd be a scientist scientist scientist or a doctor He didn't like classrooms though and enrolled in electronics electronics electronics elec elec- vocational school Along the way he rode dirt motorcycles He and Cathy also went scuba diving In 1994 Swartz was flipping through TV channels when footage of street luge riders in Seattle stopped his fin fin- gers Uh oh his wife said What followed were 1 10 0 years over which Swartz rode the crest of the sport and then wiped out along with it both it-both both professionally and personally Street luge can be breathtaking breathtaking breathtaking breath breath- taking especially when filmed by tiny onboard cam cam- eras Riders steer by leaning left or right They draft J lJ J m another W th r lik like which e st allows them to build up momentum to zip by the rider in the lead In 2000 Diane Sawyer climbed aboard a street luge for a gentle spin through Manhattans Manhattan's Riverside Park on Good Morning America Before she did Swartz helped teach her But the sport couldn't sustain sustain sustain sus sus- tain itself To put on races organizers had to convince local officials that it was a good idea to close off long sections of their roads and lay down hay bales so errant riders wouldn't fly into signs trees guardrails or spectators Promoters fell away The sport was dropped from vaunted X Games in 2001 Swartz kept at it He held safety clinics for new riders preaching the art of using the luge as a shield in the event of trouble by holding it and turning away from an oncoming object Riders young and old Listen to Bob racer Richard Hodkinson a doctoral candidate candidate candidate candi candi- date at the University of Southern California once posted on a street luge message message message mes mes- sage board Hes saved my limbs at least six times with his advice But Swartz never lost his need for speed For this racing drag-racing fans 1 J J q can can bec be b e fh thankful an k l. l j f j t I Swartz v r z stil stilt pur pur pursues 4 traditional gravity luge and hopes to well into his fifties fifties even even if he often has to do so on the relative flat terrain of Charles County |