Bob Burnquist may have won the gold and the battle but Danny Way won the war and second place. Danny Way took so many hard slams and kept coming back, it was the most insane thing I have ever seen and I have seen a lot. There have been harder tricks made and worse falls but never on the scale of Danny Way at the 2008 X Games Big Air.
“The craziest thing I have ever seen” – Jake Brown
The X Games big air event debuted in 2003 and in my opinion they brought it on to get Danny Way to come to the X Games. Danny Way even won it three years and a few years ago with a broken foot that was so bad he was walking with a cane. Can you imagine not being able to walk yet winning the big air? If it were a different era, Danny Way would be like Braveheart or something. Not like George Bush sending kids off to die in Iraq while sits in comfort on his ranch in Texas, Danny would be at the front of the pack, pulling arrows out his arms and shit. If you have only watched the X Games on TV you may be thinking to your self “that big air is no big deal” Well you would be in-correct, it is gnarly. First of all, the boards do not even turn until they hit 35 miles per hour, the trucks are so tight. Imagine bailing on the in-run and not clearing the first gap. Imagine being 18 feet in the air over the gap and landing on 60 mm urethane wheels, then flying at over 50 miles per to launch your self over 45 feet up from the flat, no shocks, no air filled tires, no water to land on, you are the shock absorber and then only thing protecting you are pads and a flimsy helmet. Bob Burnquist said the compression on the landing is insane. In a few short years this thing has almost taken the life of Jake Brown and Pat Duffy. Keep all that mind and think about pushing to this level.
There were a lot of bails at first but towards the end it was a real emotional rollercoaster. Jake coming back after his fall last year, Danny bailing and coming back multiple times and then Bob winning on the very last run of the event was the icing on the cake. Think I even forgot about being in LA, all the crazy sponsors and stuff – insanity. The people in the Staples center that knew what was going on were like in a daze, it was that crazy.
“Danny just changed the program by taking the gnarliest slams and getting back up” – Jake Brown
“I did not even notice” – Jake Brown on blocking out the replays of his slam from last year right before he took his runs
“Danny will always come back to ride unless he is on a stretcher” – Bob Burnquist
I wanted to do the hardest thing I could do for Danny, he is pedal to the metal” – Bob
Dropping down the roll in
Danny Way in practice…
…to a backflip. Danny was ripping in practice but started to slam a lot in practice. Keep in mind he has had seven knee surgeries, multiple blows to the head, a broken back that put him in a wheel chair temporarily, puntured lungs and that is just the big stuff. He basically could keep a small town hospital in business
PLG was trying a kickflip over the gap but never made it in the finals
Corey Duffel, the girl sitting next to him kept mouthing the water bottle; you know what that means right – sexual frustration
Here is Danny after his first of 5 runs in the finals. He slammed so fucking hard, hit his head, elbow and everything, probably got a concussion because he was dizzy and stuff. Seriously it was a gnarly enough fall that no one thought he would come back – run #1
Jake Brown on the quarter pipe
Jake was leading after this run. It was a great relief to everyone after his fall from last year. I think it was a 360 to 21’ 540
Adam Taylor was in the Big Air event for the first time this year. When he was born Danny Way was pretty much the age to be graduating from Vista High School
Danny Way after run #2 where his shins clipped the coping on the way in and got flipped over onto his back on the flat. Again, a fall that would have killed me, again he got up to ride again, people were fucking amazed. People say it broke his foot. If you saw it on tv you can not appreciate how gnarly the slams were, you could feel the slams on the other side of the staples center.
Danny – run #3 was a backflip to 540 and it launched into 1st place for a awhile. Jake Brown, Bob Burnquist and Andy Mac would all get him off the podium – for a little bit
Jake Brown did a ollie 360 to varial 5 (shown), a combo that would put him in 3rd place
Danny Way run #4, he over rotated a varial 540, like 20 feet out and smashed the fuck out of his head, seriously three of the hardest hits in one contest. The whole place was silent no one knew what to think
Andy Mac did a judo 360 to ginormous kickflip and he was on the podium for a while
Danny Way run # 5, backflip to…
…varial 540, put him in first place, with possibly a broken foot and two concussions
People were losing their fucking minds. The emotion of his falls and coming back over and over, Jake Brown making sick runs after skipping death last year
Bob Burnquist came back for the last run of the night with this switch back 180 ollie over the gap…
…to late spin backside Indy 360 to win it all. Bob siad he could not believe he made it. He kind of squatted the landing and he said he usually can not make landings were he squats because the compresion is so great you have be standing in a strong position but he said “I was not going to bail”
The exact moment they announced Bob’s winning score which put Danny into second
Danny talking to his Mom maybe? Here is some trivia. Danny Way’s first name starts with a D. His brother Damon started DC Shoes with Ken Block. D stands for Danny and C stands for Colin. DC Shoes was bought by Quiksilver a few years ago and I think Damon Way got 55 million out of it. They were not rich kids; their parents were kind of hippies and lived on a farm or commune in Vista, which is the land that DC Shoes sits on. So, Danny Way is the D in DC and DC Shoes sits on the land where his brother Damon was born. When DC started they kind of brought tech into skate shoes for the first time. At the time Vans were also made in Vista and they really sucked. Danny went straight to the hospital after this
Here are Jakes boards
Jake Brown is fucking hero too if you ask me
The winner – Bob Burnquist
1 Bob Burnquist
2 Danny Way
3 Jake Brown
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