BARDONECCHIA, Italy – Picture Dale Earnhardt on a snowboard, wearing a No. 3 bib and a helmet, racing down a treacherous icy track, jostling for position at 35 mph through high-banked hairpin turns, catching air off a 15-foot ramp, avoiding a wreck, and passing the leader at precisely the right moment to win an Olympic gold medal.
Instead of RV-driving, sunburned fans, the stands are filled with bundled-up Japanese, Australians, French, Canadians, and a man who inexplicably waves a gigantic shaggy dog’s head on a stick while a deejay named “Double S” spins rock music.
Snowboardcross (a.k.a. SBX and boardercross) crashed the Winter Olympics Thursday, and Seth Wescott, of Farmington, did his best Earnhardt imitation, sneaking past Slovakian Radoslav Zidek to win the gold by less than a board’s length in the sport’s debut. Frenchman Paul-Henri Delerue, the lesser-known of the snowboarding Delerue brothers, took bronze.
There were bumps, thrills, spills, and boarders left in tangled heaps as packs of four shot down a curvy, bumpy 1,000-yard course, negotiating turns named “Tall Boy,” “Toilet Bowl,” and “Canuck Corner.”
No judges. No split times. Just all-out, elbows-flying racing.
The first two to cross the finish line in each round advanced until the field of 32 had whittled down to the Final Four, who raced for all the marbles in the aptly-named Big Final.
“Our country loves NASCAR, and I think for a lot of people who just see snowboarding in the halfpipe, they might not see all the intricacies of it,” Wescott said. “But with this, they love the racing aspect, and it’s one of the things that makes it so exciting to do. I think that translates to the viewing public, too.
“Seeing the amount of marketing that went into this Olympics based around snowboarding, I think snowboarding is really becoming the heart and soul of the Olympic Games.”
Wescott, 29, had proven himself in the X-Games over the past decade, but he said winning an Olympic medal was “a different feeling.” He got his first exposure to the Olympics in 1984, watching on television as Joan Benoit won the first women’s Olympic marathon. Wescott’s father, Jim, had been Benoit’s track and field coach at North Carolina State, and bought the family a new television set so they could watch the historic race.
Like Benoit, Wescott won by racing smart. He staying out of traffic during his four trips down the track. In the final, he overtook Zidek by evading him on a jump and then slipping past him on a sharp right turn.
“I almost landed on Rado,” Wescott said. “I was a little worried that would be the end right there. Then, on the pass, I had momentum going and didn’t want to wait to see if there would be another opportunity, so I went for it.”
His three U.S. teammates weren’t as fortunate. They all were eliminated in heats after contact, including one crash that left Nate Holland miffed at Jason Smith. Holland sailed higher than usual off a ramp, wobbled in the air, and crashed on his landing. He later complained that Smith, who was leading their heat, slowed down and didn’t leave enough room for Holland to land.
“If Jason had gotten his ass in gear, I wouldn’t have wrecked,” Holland griped as he passed reporters after the race. “He’s my teammate, but I’m mad at him.”
Smith defended his tactics. “I did go slower off that take-off, but that’s each person’s choice. I felt I had to do that to get a good landing. Unfortunately, things happen. That’s racing. That’s why people like to watch it.”
For Wescott, Thursday’s victory was the culmination of years of training that included surfing off the coasts of Brazil and Costa Rica, whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, and – most challenging of all – being dropped out off helicopters onto unchartered mountain peaks in Alaska’s Chugach Range, which he then snowboards down. He was once caught in an avalanche and carried 750 feet by the raging snow.
“Those Alaskan adventures are a different kind of rush,” he said. “Those are life or death.”
Asked why he would make a hobby of risking his life, Wescott said; “Once you reach a certain level in your sport, you’re always looking for new ways to push the boundaries.”
Sounds like Dale Earnhardt’s kind of racer.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.