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Skid Marks - Madison's Macho Medium
by Tyler Coates
Photos by the reporter's father
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For the longest time people have been watching the Dukes of Hazzard on TV trying to figure out how to make their own car burn its tires. They sense that making skid marks is an art form. Getting brave enough to try it and do it is what separates the wannabe stunt driver from the real deal.
Dukes of Hazzard became popular because of all the crazy stunts that Bo and Luke Duke did. Freshman Shawn Esworthy says, "What I really liked about the show was the fast cars, and the women. There is just something about seeing a car burning up the road, spinning rubber off its tires. I always wondered how they, or anybody, could make such amazing black marks." Not just Shawn, but a lot of people liked seeing that.
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The Bike
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There are many different styles of burning out, but a lot of the black marks along the road are from mashing brakes and screeching to a stop, trying not to hit another car, a dog, or a bicyclist. Another reason for a skid mark on the road is trailer brakes locking up. This happens a lot on the big rig trucks. Different vehicles will make different black marks, and you can tell the difference very easily if you know what you are looking for.
Looking at a good burn-out mark is like looking at artwork, to them that respect it. When someone leaves a deep, dark, black mark, he is leaving it for people to admire and enjoy. It's also like marking
territory. It's a sign saying, "Hey, this is my road."
Finding the guts to even try to do a burn-out is the hard part. It's not the cops, or loosing money from the rubber that's being wasted off your tires for absolutely no reason. It's the possibility of wrecking and hurting your car, or just the embarrassment that comes with wrecking. In the movies like Dukes of Hazzard, the stunt men are doing all the driving. That's their job. When you go out on the road to do it, it's just you and your car - nobody else.
Doug Green, a freshman from Madison County, says, "I love riding down the road and looking at freshly-made black marks. To me it's cool to watch people make them, and I see them everywhere, and it makes me happy."
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The TransAm
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There are different styles of marks to learn.
First is the straight black mark that just goes out the road with no curve to it. Second is the wavy one. This one is close to the straight one, but it has a couple of curves, providing a design. The third one is the donut. It is just a complete circle of black marks like a big O. To do this one, the front tires of your car have to stay in the same spot and the back of the car spins around in a circle a couple of times.
The fourth one looks like a rainbow. The car just starts spinning, and then you grab the brake and keep spinning and your car will begin to go sideways,s allowing the rainbow look.
Hardest to master is the figure eight. The black mark will end up looking like a big 8. To do this one, you have to start spinning like you're going into a donut, and half way through the donut you have to turn the wheel back the other way and come on around with the back of the car. When the car is at a 180 degree turn, you have to make the car keep spinning and go back the other way, making the eight.
A lot of people make their black marks by using a car, but a lot of different vehicles will do them. The car makes the best black mark, just because of the weight difference. The faster the vehicle, the better the skid mark will be. Usually a darker, longer, and wavier black mark is made by a car, and not by a truck. A truck will make a short black mark because the truck just runs out of gear and it quits spinning. Motorcycles will make a great long and skinny mark. A motorcycle can also do a donut, just depending on the rider.
Black marks are everywhere, on the Interstate, on the back roads, and even in the town of Mars Hill. People try and do them, and that's when it becomes art. |
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