The best vert skater's playground can't be found in any park in the Cape Fear region – it's in Brian Drake's backyard.
Driving by, you might miss the 40-foot ramp hiding behind Drake's house. He runs an auto shop, Top Notch Automotive, out of his garage in Navassa. Nearly five years ago, he built the vertical skate ramp of his dreams.
On Labor Day weekend, Drake hosted the last stop in the Renegade Vert Series, a traveling skate contest, as he had two years prior. At the event, attendees snagged LDAD shirts (Labor Day at Drake's).
The contest attracts the best vert skaters in the nation. Collin Graham, eying a spot on the Olympic 2020 team, earned first place in the men's open. Next summer will be skateboarding's first appearance in the summer Olympics.
"It’s top level," Drake said. "This is like, dudes that skate all over the world. China, California, Canada, Brazil."
Outside of the contest, Drake said use of his ramp is unofficial and free-flowing. Vert days are Tuesdays, Sundays, and sometimes Thursdays, he said. "If they’re into it, they come out every session," he said.
Drake doesn't mind people skating on his backyard ramp. After all, he built it to fill a void.
"I built it for me to skate. And I don’t want to skate it by myself," he said. "So the more people — I mean, you don’t want 20 people skating it. But we have a good eight to 10 people skating it on the regular. So that’s a good session."
Though there are plenty of skaters in the region, Drake's ramp isn't for everyone.
"It’s not everyone’s cup of tea," he said. "But you get some kids that are drawn toward it and want to do it. The kids, the parents come out."
At the contest, the sound of boards banging against the ramp (the skater-equivalent of an applause) is nearly continuous. Judges critique sets from an elevated table; onlookers hoot as they sip brews from their coolers on lawn chairs.
Around a dozen contestants and attendees chose to camp out in Drake's back and front yards. Others booked Airbnb's or hotels in the area.
Throughout the all-day event, about 100 people filtered in and out. Overflow parking across the railroad tracks was available in two vacant fields on a farm owned by former Brunswick County Commissioner Bill Sue.
Drake said he works on Sue's car in his auto shop, and that Sue's generosity with parking is a make-or-break deal for the contest.
"If he didn’t let us do that, we couldn’t do this," Drake said.
Despite pumping music, front-lawn campers, and newfound foot traffic on Old Mill Road, Drake said his neighbors don't mind the buzz.
"The neighbors love it," Drake said. "The cops, not so much when we park on the road."
When the night wound down, a live band made a stage at the belly of the ramp. Before results were announced, Drake said he'd won the last two master's events on his ramp, but that he didn't expect to this time around.
"I probably won’t win today. Matt Dove, I think, skated better than I did," he said.
Drake won, Dove took second, by less than a point.
Credits:
Johanna Ferebee