The Draino and John Parker

I first saw John Parker try a body varial — or Draino as he calls it — around 1994 or so. Since then, I saw him try it a number of times, coming very, very close on several attempts (as close as a dab of the foot) but close doesn’t quite count. At some point when you’re that close, it’s got to happen. Fast Forward.

In 2006 John and I were shooting for a Ride (UK) interview that never materialized. I think he ended up getting hurt part way through the year and we just hadn’t shot enough different stuff. However, the one thing he really wanted to get done we did get — the Draino. He’d been trying them and getting consistent with them in the foam at Woodward, and if there was one trick he wanted to get for the interview, the Draino was it. It had been looming over his head for 13 years, and numerous attempts.

You can’t really work up to a trick like the Draino. You either get all the way around, or you fall out of the sky, or go down with the ship. The day we shot these made me cringe more than I ever have before. Five or six of the attempts were five or six of the hardest crashes I have ever seen. We’re talking career ending shit for most people. Parker walked away from all of them, some with a smile on his face. I don’t get it. Tough as nails. After several “should be in the ER” type crashes, he got it done. The first and only time it has happened on a vert ramp (since then Kyle Loza has done a similar body varial on a motorcycle to win the X Games — a guy named Jeff Harris from Texas used to try and get very, very close off jumps on a BMX bike in the early 90s).

When the interview was falling to the wayside I sent this along with some other stuff to one of the US magazines, but they didn’t use it for whatever reason. It has been sitting on my hard drive since. One of the gnarliest things I’ve seen or shot. So here it is. Dusting it off. I took the easy route and made it an animated GIF, so there is some color loss and artifacts, but you get the gist of the trick. One of these days I’ll use these for something good. For now, here it is. The Draino, 2006: John Parker.

Note: The animation of the sequence might take a minute to load. It’s worth it.

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