Concrete Wave Articles

IGSA's report on the 2008 Niorth American Championships and the Hot Heels Africa races, as featured in Concrete Wave Magazine.

The following is Rod’s story and history in skate- boarding as told to me. He’s been skateboarding since the mid-seventies and through the years he has played a major role in the New York and New Jersey skate scenes and in turn in the global skate scene. He’s one of the true unsung heroes and architects of modern skateboarding. And those who know him and have been lucky enough to befriend him and skate with him will tell you without a bad word one, that Rodney Smith’s fingerprint is on all that’s good about skateboarding. And no doubt it will be for a long time to come.

Retirement, wow! It has been a very hard thing for me to do, not race that is. I got hurt at a Red Bull race and messed up my neck and broke my leg. Then a few years later, I went down hard again twisting my neck. I had it xrayed and the doc told me my neck could not take many more hard hits or blows. He went on to say that I needed to stop racing skateboards, and it’s kind of funny, he told me I was already too old to ride skateboards… so I retired then for the first time. I was feeling great and riding again within 3 weeks. I raced again the next year and had a ball but the crashes where again taking their toll on my body. I had real pain to contend with. I started a new job that couldn’t give me time off to go to races, and hell… I just turn 42 so I figured it’s time to stop for sure.

Profiles of women skaters, August, 2006

The dream seemed easy enough! Get a cool bus, travel to races and have support from advertisers and sponsors. The Loco Express is a 1965 Dodge Travco. I received it for free, but free really means a big, fat, expensive bill. With a great amount of help from Stumanchu, friends and the guys at Auto Friends, the Loco Express was given the ability to go and stop safely. The interior was put together over three days, with everyone coming together to help get us on the road for our USA tour. The Loco Express would never have left the garage without the financial support and labor of friends and sponsors.