Fast Five with Scott Hart 12

sspomer
11/22/2011 5:02pm
He loves to be called Scooter, just ask his wife. Scott Hart has been a staple of mountain biking for longer than most can remember. A race-hungry grommet who moved from Indiana to sleep on Mr. Dirt's floor in pursuit of dream many years ago, Hart has found his way towards the top of the food chain at RockShox. Get entertained and check out some classic pics in his Fast Five.
Hart (as Burt Reynolds and writing the captions) - The lifestyle photo could be captioned 'Celebrating Movember with Matt Hunter,' but it's actually from the Halloween Rampage that Strait won (number four). I've been to every Rampage and worked that mountain from every angle - rider in year one, journalist for a few years (and as a legend - in my Burt Reynolds' Bandit costume) and a judge at the last one. More time machine!When was the last time you talked to Mr. Dirt?
To thank him for my wedding gift: his and hers jumper cables. Classic Bob - always practical in design and function.

What do you see in other sports that you wish could happen in mountain biking?
Organization.

So I'm a budding, young rider and want to get sponsored by RockShox. Give me some tips on how to make that product flow to my mailbox.
If you're good enough, your riding will say everything. Be good enough. If you're not, work until you are. Success isn't exclusive to the talented alone. Earn it.
Hart writes this about the Dirt cover: I attached the Dirt cover from 2001 that you asked for. Look really close and you can only see the punk rock sticker placement on my shin pads because I'm so off the back going in to the first turn behind Thomas Allier, Nigel Page and Mick Hannah. This is actually the first gate at the first mountaincross (Sea Otter 2001). And now I acknowledge that all three of those guys were much more talented bike riders, but looking at this photo what doesn't sit well with me is that I was told at that this new 4X event was going to have big jumps. I was lied to. Looking back now, in retrospect, all I can think is: We abandoned dual slalom for this?If you had one do-over in life, what would it be?
I wish I could go back to my high school prom and punch out that bully, Biff Tannen. That'd change everything...

If you could pull the trigger (or GripShift) at RockShox/SRAM and make any dream product you want right now, what would it be?
I'd begin manufacturing traction... maybe in pill form... or some sort of futuristic food pellet... or maybe as a liquid! It'd be positioned against Red Bull because energy is useless without traction. (How's that for not really answering the question? Gotta play trade secrets close to your chest...)
This photo was taken at The Playground in SoCal. I'd love to point out to Kyle Strait and Aaron Chase that, while I am wearing a full race kit, with a jersey and perfectly color-coordinating and matching... everything, do you see clipless pedals on my bike? So shut up already!
Check out that bike in the turn photo! I've always hated silver parts or anything silver on my bikes...or on anything, really. Hate silver. Hate chrome even more. So I used to remove any silver part - brake levers, seat post guts and even shock bushings - and throw them in with Mr. Dirt's chain guide pieces when I'd drop them off to get black anodized. Style was important to me. Zoom in on that bike. All yellow and black. Ewwweee, she's sharp! The photo is from John Gibson in 2000. Zoom in on that Gibby quality, gawddamn it's sharper than the bike! I never saw this pic until a few years ago when working on a multi-page editorial piece for a magazine and Gibby randomly mixed in this pic along with a few jump pics and a pic of me racing a mountaincross moto between Aaron Peters and Daryl Young. Time machine! (The Mr. Dirt sticker under the visor reminds me of when we were doing runs in Big Bear one weekend and David Spade was at the top of the hill, saw my helmet and insisted he get his photo taken with it, telling me "I just wrapped on a movie called Joe Dirt". So I stood next to him while one of his entourage took a photo of us while he held my sweaty helmet. For the record: I was taller than him. But his chick taking the photo was about a foot taller than both of us. And I miss Big Bear.)
12 comments

View replies to: Fast Five with Scott Hart

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BeigeWolf
13 years ago
WHEN A PROJECT GETS ITS HART RIPPED OUT, IT ALSO LOSES PAGE COUNTS AND STREET CRED.
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Scott Hart
13 years ago
Actually, shiz, you're right - there were some Ralf Hauser photos that ended up in one of the magazines. That, I can justify: Ralf was the boss. Neil could beat it, but when the editor-in-chief said "jump," I only asked "how high?" Very possible there were some stills... Flow issue one, I think. And thanks for the ride in the DeLorean. Fun to travel back in time and revisit the memories - thanks Vital!

And, Turman, I have a week before the pART Project auction ends! http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110778204336#ht_500wt_1310
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k.shiz
13 years ago
My memory betrays me then... I could swear there was a couple of clips of you in one of those movies and one was a roof huck on a yellow Turner from some apartments or something over some bushes and into a plush grass tranny...
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Scott Hart
13 years ago
Pffft, no movies. Neil and I were roommates in the valley during the Superheros era and he filmed constantly, but only no-footers, whirly birds, Triple Lindys and all the trendy-at-the-time moves - like a prepubescent Zink doing chainstay grinds and rail hops (although I wouldn't mind to see some more big hops from the still-smallest Zink - because Howie still brings 'em!). However, I can hold my head high today because no matter how "persuasive" Neil was, I never bent to do any stair gaps for him. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for all the roommates... shame on you, Darebear!
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dmrides
9 years ago
Just to set the record straight, I never did any stair gaps for Neil. Now, if we are talking about Spomer, guilty as charged.
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k.shiz
13 years ago
What video would that have been in Hart? Superheroes? Was that pre-superheroes? I still have a few Flow copies around in the bottom of some box in the back of some basement. I'll be giving those to some young neighborhood kid in 20 years.
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Scott Hart
13 years ago
Sven, if you submitted pics of me to Flow, I think I know why they were never published... Before you put all your old mags in storage to move to New Zealand this winter, flip one open to the masthead again - are you forgetting that I was a founder of Flow? Still the best name for a MTB title, in my opinion...

And, k.shiz, I think I've only ridden off one roof in my life! And it was one of the few times I succumbed to the peer pressuring of Neil P. Sanders.
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Sven Martin
13 years ago
Scott Hart was possibly the first Pro i shot photos of up at Turtle Rock Slalom track, Irvine , CA. Matching yellow and black turner with black iridium lenses in his goggles i think. Then shot shots of him at Playground, stalker style. I may have even submitted them to Flow which was pre 26/Decline in the early days. He made me realize, riding and a job in the media can go hand in hand.
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k.shiz
13 years ago
Another question for Hart: When was the last time you hucked your Burner (or Afterburner?) off a roof drop?

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