Meet The Street Luge Inventor (And King)

Each time he sees a professional sport go on strike or a million-dollar athlete gripe about his contract, Roger Hickey smiles to himself.

He thinks that all those years as a test pilot, all those spills he took flying down hills on a skateboard at 50 mph - he has suffered 50 broken bones and torn off enough skin "to make a mannequin" - will soon pay off. Both for himself and the sport he is trying to pull from the underground into the mainstream.

Hickey, 37, is founder, executive director and CEO of the Federation of International Gravity Racing (FIGR), based in Huntington Beach, Calif., and the only known nationwide organization devoted to promoting extreme sports such as stand-up downhill skateboarding, street luge, gravity formula one and in-line downhill.

He is also the unofficial inventor - in 1977 - but official king of street luge.

"When I see a mainstream sport like baseball go on strike and the NBA threatening to go on strike, I just love it," Hickey said. "They keep taking steps back. It's getting to the point where people are starting to realize who the real athletes who love what they're doing are."

And what Hickey loves doing is riding skateboards and luges no wider than 2 feet down sloping streets at freeway speeds,

"It's really not about running 90 feet or playing 15 minutes total a game," he said. "We're really risking our lives out there."

Hickey said the potential for extreme games is huge. "I definitely think that they could become Olympic events," he said, and he might be right. Downhill mountain biking will make its debut as an Olympic sport at the Atlanta Games next summer.

Shawn Goulart, 30, of Stockton, Calif., agrees: "It's new to the public. But Roger has been doing it for almost 15 years, maybe more. It's new exposure, but people dig on it. It's exciting to watch, especially with four people on the road at once."

It's also something Goulart knows a lot about. He led the 32-person field in the street luge at the Extreme Games in Providence, R.I., this summer to earn the $3,000 first-place check.

In July, Goulart and second-place finisher Lee Dansie of Seattle handed Hickey his first loss in stand-up downhill skateboarding in 17 years - 216 consecutive victories - at Frank Bonelli Park in San Dimas, Calif.

The top racers use streamlined, aerodynamic equipment that Hickey believes needs to be used if the gravity games hope to make it big.

"By looking high-tech, I'm hoping to drag along the mainstream," Hickey said. "Corporations want to see that, not the stuff we've been using for years."

Corporations and sponsorships weren't something Hickey and FIGR race director Perry Fisser envisioned 15 years ago when they met while riding skateboards in Balboa, Calif. But time and injuries have taken their toll, patience has grown, and now Hickey and Fisser, 35, look at their passion with a business-minded approach.

"The timing is right right now. We're looking at it mainly as a business," said Fisser, who works days as a machinist in Escondido, Calif.

Although gravity racing might seem to be a sport for 18-20-year-olds, the average age of riders is 32. FIGR has planned to incorporate a junior luge program to attract more youngsters.

"A lot of parents have been calling, interested in getting their children involved," Fisser said. "It's going to get as big as Little League."

If all goes as planned, FIGR hopes cities will be contacting it and submitting proposals to bring the sport to their communities.

"Realistically, we want to have a full circuit, based on the West Coast, by next year," Barger said. "Then hopefully a nationwide circuit with both an amateur and professional division."

Fad or mainstream sport, you can bet there won't be any labor disputes.