Laid-Back SKATERS

Nestled in the pages of the Guinness Book of World Records, between the person who set the mark for the biggest mountain-board spin and the one who has the highest jump wearing in-line skates, is Tustin resident Darren Lott’s name.

His claim to fame? He is the world’s fastest butt boarder.

Butt boarding is a style of lay-down skating that has long been preferred in Germany and Austria but only now is gaining popularity in the U.S. Look for it in an upcoming X-Games, and look for Lott, 38, in the competition.

Lott qualified as a Guinness record holder two years ago when he reached 65.24 mph while lying on his back on a skateboard-like wood surface only 48 inches long and 12 inches wide.

The butt board, or classic style as Europeans refer to it, is slightly longer and wider than a traditional skateboard--and with a similar wooden deck, 70-millimeter wheels and steel bearings. The board is often compared to a street luge, but is shorter, fatter and considerably more affordable.

“The best world-class equipment can’t cost more than $200,” said Lott, whose computer consulting firm builds integrated manufacturing systems for Nabisco in La Mirada. “The ceramic bearings in a professional street luge cost more than a whole butt board setup.”

Lott says butt boarding also makes for better racing than the street luge because the board’s short length makes for easier passing.

“In butt boarding, if you get real close to somebody, you can actually lift your legs up and go over the top of them,” Lott said. “So racing is actually much more interesting because people can pack up really tight and instead of that resulting in a crash, you can see all these wild passes as people go through a course.”

Which is not to say that butt boarding isn’t dangerous.

“Once you get going that fast on anything, if you hit something stationary while going fast, you’re going to get hurt,” Lott said.

Competitors wear helmets, gloves and protective suits similar to that worn by motorcycle racers.

“We’re dressing for a 140 mph motorcycle crash, so if you fall off the board at 50 you don’t get hurt,” Lott said. “Guys will have pretty wild slide-outs and will pick up their board and keep going again.”

It’s Lott’s contention that butt boarders often are safer than bicyclists or roller-bladers because of the protective equipment they wear. “But you still hate to think that maybe I’m going to influence someone to do this and they won’t know what they’re doing and they go do something stupid like ride through a live

intersection and get hit by a car,” he added.

Lott’s record-setting feat was performed on a hill in a closed-off residential neighborhood of Fountain Hills, Ariz. The original idea was for Graham Wilkie and Jeff Hamilton to break the downhill in-line skating record, but the organizers, Alternative International Sports, asked Lott if he was interested in attempting a world record in the street luge.

Lott took one look at the hill and determined it wasn’t long enough or steep enough to break Tom Mason’s record of 81.28 mph set a few months earlier at Mt. Whitney, Calif., but he did inquire about attempting a record on a butt board.

“I said, ‘You know what? There’s this sport called butt boarding that they have in Europe and the fastest they ever claimed to go was 67 mph,’ ” Lott said. “ ‘But it wasn’t an official time and it wasn’t a world record.’ ”

The event organizers sent Lott’s mark to the Guinness editors and, after verifying its legitimacy through several skateboard associations, they created a new world-record category.

Because of Lott’s knowledge of the street luge, which led him to write the “Street Luge Survival Guide,” and his butt-board record, he has become America’s unofficial ambassador for the sport.

“He definitely has a lot more energy and enthusiasm for the sport than anyone I know,” said Lott’s friend and frequent riding partner, Dave Ault of Lake Forest. “I think he wants to leave his mark on the sport.”

Lott, who grew up in Garden Grove and graduated from Bolsa Grande High, began street-luge racing in the late 1970s and was even pictured receiving a speeding ticket in the July, 1980, issue of SkateBoarder magazine.

After leaving the sport to focus on other adventures--scuba diving, rock climbing and skydiving--Lott returned to the street-luge scene in 1994 and has consistently been among the top finishers in the sport.

Lott’s interests began to expand to include the butt board, and in 1998 he traveled to Austria for the annual Hot Heels competition, which attracts the top European riders.

“When I had gone to Europe in 1998, no foreigners--nobody other than Germans or Austrians--had made the semifinals,” Lott said. “So the first year I went and made the semifinals. They were really in shock and wouldn’t talk to me.”

Lott returned to Austria in 1999 and took third in the butt-board competition.

“Last year, all the Americans that were riding made the semifinals and it kind of freaked the Europeans out,” Lott said.

Lott, who says he has reached 75 mph since his record-breaking ride, is hoping to have the butt board included in ESPN’s X-Games. At an X-Games qualifier next month in Utah, butt boarding will be featured as an exhibition sport.