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The District WeeklyWed. October 31
 


ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY

‘BLOODY SUNDAY’
Myth: An unfortunate downhill skateboarder competing in the 1977 Signal Hill Speed Run broke through the barricades at the course’s end and was killed in traffic.

Reality: The racer, 55-year-old Terry Nails, isn’t dead. He’s in Florida. But 30 years ago, he nearly perished when the brakes on his futuristic downhill racer—a silvery wedge of a bullet, based on a land luge skateboard—failed.

“I think they called it ‘Bloody Sunday,’” Nails says, “because so many people got tore up there.”

“That’s the game, like the guys in the X Games who do jumps with snowmobiles,” says 1963 Wilson High grad Jimmy O’Mahoney, who organized the event in conjunction with Guinness World Records. “If it lands on you, it’s really going to hurt.”

The skateboarding contests, held yearly from 1975 to at least 1978, tried to find out how fast skateboarders could go, how high they could jump, etc. The high-jumps were held in San Pedro, but the speed contests were held—where else?—on Shell Hill, which is Hill Street west of Redondo Avenue, with a retaining wall of hay bales laid out to stop any runaway riders. Hay bales were still high-tech in the ’70s.

“It was a stupid idea in a certain sense,” Nails says. “That was sort of a cross between big-wave surfing—like riding Waimea—and drag racing. There were a lot of things that weren’t taken into account.”

Nails—the original bassist for the band Tommy Tutone—did all he could to save his own skin: he donned a $500 set of racing leathers for the event. Having topped 68 miles per hour on the more savage hills of his native San Francisco, he could already see how this would end.

“[Shell] Hill was kind of a nothing hill,” he says. “I think the fastest we did that day was 55 miles an hour. I used to do 55 on a regular skateboard.” But that was when he could stop. As he descended Shell Hill, Nails says the wind came up—and blew dirt across the racecourse. He hit the brakes, but they wouldn’t grab in the dirt—and he went flying through the hay.

“I figure I was going between 55 and 60 miles an hour when I hit the hay bales. The next thing I know I was headed for that [National Guard building], the brick wall, and I’ve got no brakes. Time slowed down.”

An old lady driving what Nails says was a 1951 Chevrolet didn’t slow down—until it was almost too late. She hit him, and spun the racer so it went south on Redondo Avenue and got wedged beneath a pickup truck. Nails broke a rib and tore some ligaments in his leg—but when he went to a local hospital, he says they were too busy to see him.

“I sat there for about four hours and then went back to the race and back to San Francisco,” he says. The day wasn’t a total loss. Even after spending half of it at the hospital—and finishing only one of his five timing trials—Nails still took home a second place trophy. // TD

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    I have been working on a book about the women who worked in the aircraft industry during WWII and found out that Douglas hired "midgets" (the phrase used on the cutlines of the photos I saw) because they could fit into tight spaces like the inside of the fuel tanks.
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    Ms. Schipske,
    That's amazing!
    Thanks for letting us know.
    I wonder where these "midgets" lived while they worked at Douglas; it'd make our story better if they lived here. They may have been commuters, though.
    My grandmother worked at Douglas during the war, and I know she drove in from the San Gabriel Valley every day--down Rosemead Boulevard.
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    "Bloody Sunday": 1977 Signal Hill Speed Run. I was one of the few women who entered that race. There were two of us to be exact. The year before, there were no women represented. I thought that was terrible so I entered. I had a great leather outfit made by Bates Leather and was sponsored by my Dad's ship repair company. The other woman, Leslie Jo Ritzma, made it down and got the record for first woman to make the speed run. I unfortunately, as others that day, crashed...(my boyfriend at the time, Herb Spitzer, also crashed...let's just say, it was an exciting day for spectators!) I was not hurt but gave my mother a fright by doing a roll to the side just after the crest of the hill right in front of her! That was a very memorable day for me. I used to skate (roller skates) all the local skateparks and a few empty pools and am still in touch with several of "the guys" I hung with back then. (I'm a triathlete now.) Thanks for bringing some light to a great race, with or without the crashes!...You also got me back in contact with Jim O'Mahoney, a really great guy, that an interview with him alone would make for an interesting article!
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    I am Herbs brother and saw Michelle crash that day. I believe her trucks were tight and didn't turn because she hit a bump at the top and then the cart didn't go stright down hill and she couldn't make it adjust. A really bad eat. But she was one tough cookie! Herb on the other had got to aot 53 mph and his trucks were to loose and he got speed wabbles and got pitched...Someone in this world might have tape of this day...Wonder why they don't hold the ZShell Hill speed run anymo.
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    alright egor was a butler who worked in the house and there were these kids that live and played in the alley behind where he worked and he hated the kids because they were loud and made messes so one night he snaped and hung all the kids
    there's a ledge where u can see a semented door way and thats were it supposidly happend

    drive down the alley at night with your lights out crazy scary
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    I live in the Igor house. The stories crack me up!!!
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    I live in the Igor house. The stories crack me up!!! Email me with any questions.
 
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