Astro Speedway Skateboard Park

Get Your Wings.
It's the theme for 2026 as related in a post here on October 6th
of this year.

ArtPrize 2026 will again have Astro fingerprints on my entry, less obvious, more subtle than the 2021 'Getting Even With Gravity,' piece
but those who got their wings will see if looking.
Merry Christmas. 🎄

Side-by-side photographic evidence shows the primary difference between a frontside air and a backside air is the direction the skater faces during the aerial rotation on a vertical ramp. The frontside air is performed with the skater's chest facing toward the ramp, while the backside air has the skater's back facing the ramp.

Frontside air
Rotation: A regular-stance skater rotates counter-clockwise over the ramp's coping, with their chest and front of their body facing the transition.
View: Because their body is facing forward, the skater can see the ramp and the coping throughout the entire trick, which some find more comfortable.
Common grab: The most common grab for a frontside air is the Indy grab, where the back hand grabs the toe-side edge of the board between the feet.
Appearance: The rider's face is visible to a spectator for most of the trick.
Frontside Air (from behind the skater) Frontside Air (from in front of the skater)
Backside air
Rotation: A regular-stance skater rotates clockwise, with their back facing the ramp transition.
View: The skater's back is to the ramp during the trick, requiring them to look over their shoulder to spot the landing.
Common grab: The most common grab for a backside air is the Melon grab, where the front hand grabs the heel-side edge of the board between the feet.
Appearance: The rider's back and shoulders are primarily visible to the spectator during the trick.
Backside Air (from behind the skater) Backside Air (from in front of the skater)

As I work on a project that celebrates the
50 year mark, next year (2026) I look back and smile, still dancing the night away.

The project is linked to the conception and my first sketched design of Astro Speedway Skateboard Park in 1976... that then subsequently led to the construction and then opening of the first of its kind, indoor Skateboard Park, in the world, in 1979.

New ideas, new visions, and a new era of sight and sounds were born.

Some unique sounds, like the click of expansion cracks in the sidewalk that skate wheels make when riding by;
the grinding noises made when steel scrapes against concrete coping or the silent moment broken by a gasping crowd the first time they witnessed a skater
'get air' - off a ramp
or out of an empty swimming pool.

Now these sights
and sounds are commonplace,
but just a few decades back they stopped traffic and even time for a few seconds as only authentic, original action can.

Sounds of this new era also included sounds like the ones that made up this song, released in 1979, by Van Halen, in the year that goes down nice and hard, at least in my world.

This one original musical piece of work captures a slice of that energy in that world at the time, bouncing off the concrete, basement walls, the pools, and sounds echoing through the half-pipe canyons...
in the days gone by, like a thrashers version of a debutante ball. Held in Jenison, Michigan of all places. Who knew?

Get Your Wings
1979
♥️

Dance the Night Away (2015 Remaster) Provided to YouTube by Rhino/Warner RecordsDance the Night Away (2015 Remaster) · Van HalenThe Collection℗ 1979 Warner Records Inc.Drums: Alex Van HalenEngin...

Tony Hawk was only 10 years old, according to my calculations, when Astro Speedway opened up in 1979.

Here he is in his teen years in this photo taken with Evil Knievel.

Almost every kid who ever skated did so while being towed by something or another... car, truck, motorcycle, horse, dog, or a rock-solid, wingman. 🤙

#69 Fury Murey.

Be the 1st to name this Astro Speedway Skateboard Park Inc rider and win yourself
a new 2026 Astro commemorative T-shirt.

Yes, he is still alive and kicking today.

Time marches on and every year a new crop of Surfer/Skaters
Get Their Wings.

Priceless.🤙

A couple of great photos that Robert Wardlow sent to me that got hung up in the shuffle.
What an era, what a ride.
The official Astro Speedway Skateboard Park Inc. era spanned from 1976-1983.

A lot of rides, smiles, songs with some pain and tears.

The final Astro close out song on the table was:
'Screaming In The Night' by Krocus.

Seemed an appropriate way to salute the thrashers who graced that concrete playground.

Take an idea,
put action to it,
and you can create your own path... that reality still holds true today. 2025

RIP
I unknowingly wore my old Ron Jon cut off T-shirt with pride a couple Saturdays ago at an event in Jenison and I sent it to the corporate office.
Then found out that the 'Surfing Marine,' was hitting new breaks in heaven.
Semper Fi, surfer dude🕎✝️🔥🤙