Fountain Hills Arizona, September 1998

Doug Lucht set the world Street Ski speed record on this road in March of 1998. His twin brother Dave was the event organizer and essential for establishing the procedures to get the record accepted by Guinness. In September they went for it again, this time inviting many different disciplines under the sanction of the AIS (Alternative International Sports) organization.

The intitial concept was to have a Street Luge demo at a widely attended In-Line speed record attempt. Instead Street Lugers, and Speedboarders widely outnumbered the In-Liners. Darren Lott asked and was allowed to try to establish an Official Buttboarding speed record.

Darren contacted then Hot Heels organizer, Stefan Wagner about the record attempt. Stefan gave his blessing and they conferred on the criteria that should be used to establish the first record.

(Photos by Arlene Cline)

The hill is only about 2,000 feet long, but very steep. AIS added a giant scaffolding ramp to add even more speed. Interestingly, the fastest Buttboard run was from starting on the street (no-ramp.)

However the most FRIGHTENING runs were down the slippery ramp, where neither shoes nor wheels offered any braking or turning control. Fortunately, no one fell over the side into the street.

A seemingly bizzare aspect to the event was that the course was right in the middle of a residential neighborhood. A lot of local kids were excited to see the ramp appear in the middle of their street. It was a good chance to get autographs as well.

Several riders were asked if they wanted to participate in the Buttboard attempt. But as most were concentrating on breaking the Speedboarding record, they didn't want to use up a run on a category that may not get accepted by Guinness.

It seemed to pay off as a new Speedboarding (Stand Up Skateboard) record was set by Gary Hardwick at 62.55 mph. This is about 10 mph faster than the last Guinness Record. Other new records set were for In-line, Women's Street Luge, Quad Skating, etc.. Besides Darren, only Roger Hickey (Street Luge record holder) took a shot at the Buttboard record.

Bob Ozman was shooting for a new Street Luge record. With 90mm wheels, ceramic bearings and a new belly pan on his aerodynamic Hickey Eagle, Bob takes a run against Darren on the Buttboard. Shockingly, head to head the Buttboard was faster! Ozman later pulled a slightly higher speed down the ramp winning the competition among Lugers, but far short of a new record.

Because of the simplicity of the gear, many Americans didn't believe Buttboards could exceed Freeway Speeds. Hot Heels had recorded a speed of 67 mph by Ralph Kohler, but it was never submitted to Guinness. It was also on the "Old Course" and unlikely to be repeated.

By the day's end, every knew the Buttboard was a speed machine of consequence. At 65.24 mph it was faster than almost every Street Luge on that run and faster than any of the other downhill records set that day.

Street Luges have been recorded in the low 80s on other courses and Buttboards have been repeatedly clocked in the mid 70s since that day.

But the importance of getting an official and established World Record cannot be underestimated. Respect the Record; A line in the sand has been drawn.

Guinness World Record
(Millenium edition):
World's Fastest Butt Boarder (65.24 mph)

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Darren Lott ©2001