Speed Kings and Queens Who is Tom Mason Who is Erik Shafer Who is David Dean Who is Pamela Zoolalian What are gravity sports Tom Mason is on his back He s on a board He s 1 inch 2 5 centimeters off the ground He races downhill He turns tight corners He hopes no cars or people are in his path Mason is The Bad Boy of Street Luge He s the fastest street luger in the world He went 81 28 miles 131 kilometers per hour He said For a few seconds I am I truly flying like Superman and feel like a speeding bullet
He started street luging at night There was no traffic His first race day was surprising He had never luged during the day He was scared He saw telephone poles fences and cliffs He overcame his fear Erik Shafer raced against others He crashed into them Others crashed into him He cracked two ribs He tore arm muscles He loves speed Street luging can be aggressive This is when people play
There are lots of high speed crashes in street luging David Dean started competing at age 14 In one race he was the first person to go downhill He crashed halfway He broke his hand He competed the next year Someone crashed in front of him He broke both legs He kept racing He got better and better He said To be able to play in the road and go as fast as you want and go nuts is
Pamela Zoolalian raced downhill She made sharp turns She spun out of control She flipped in the air She hurt her shoulder NAILED IT Spotlight Biography Beagle Jarvis William Beagle Jarvis helped develop street luging He said I don't want it to be seen as an alternative sport I want to be a mainstream athlete He wants street luging to be more popular He grew up in Madison County It's in New York He started with skateboarding Then he lay down on the board He went faster He liked street luging better Once he almost crashed into a milk truck He street luged down a hill The truck came around the corner He was going 60 miles 96 5 km per hour He couldn't stop He went under the truck He came out the other side He said Luge is great I love it He organizes contests for street lugers in his hometown It's called the Madison County Gravity Fest It's his way of giving back to the
