Smart, Troy - USA [RIP]

[John Gilmour]

I am creating this racer profile for one of my best friends and a truly humble yet determined racer Troy Smart. Troy isn't the self agrandising type so sometimes you just have to do these things for your friend.

I'm going to start off this thread by telling you I met Troy in 2002, he had started slalom skateboarding in the Hamptons and he loved it. I have coached many people in slalom skateboarding and most have been cautious, progressing slowly and surely as I tell people to do to avoid injury. Troy is made of tougher stuff and embodies the 1970's skateboarder notion of "Go for It!" I have never seen anything like it in my 40 years of racing. His knees were TOTALLY shot even beofre he started racing- but it never seems to slow him down.

When teaching I always set a course that is appropriate for the ability levels present. I also set another course that scares myself to push myself (if it scares me...it might terrify a beginner) . Troy took this to heart. In all my decades of teaching slalom, running slalom courses serving thousands of people, no one has ever gone for it like Troy. A humble, respectful, helpful man, who in his first year of slalom built the best ramps the East Coast has ever seen, not because he wanted them (as Troy knows I think slalom should not be ramp based and he liked push starts like I did) but because other slalomers that welcomed him wanted them. He toiled over these ramps- for weeks and they are like fine furniture- "SMART RAMPS" , he is the most selfless guy I ever have ever met- someone I am truly proud to call my best friend.

I would help coach Troy- and then help him get over race day anxiety that all racers face- I only regret not being there when he won races to see him shine- he worked hard at it...often skating alone in the cold....just waiting for races to be with his friends.

Here is an excerpt from NCDSA. He did not post much- but this made me understand how much Troy appreciates his friends, please post Videos of his races and your interaction on this thread. Korky if you can post race results that would be great. This is a page just to be posted about his contributions to slalom as a racer- a sport he loves the most.

I knew Troy only for a few weeks when he wrote this- I had just returned back to Boston from the Hamptons when he posted this.

On 8/26/2002 Troy wrote in from 24.185.xxx.xxx:
I love slalom!!
From my introduction to the sport at "The Gathering II", to my first race at "DA FARM"!
Having John Gilmour live 5 minutes away! Noah and UR 13 close enough to make the trip a couple of times.
How much better could it get? I'm one lucky Knucklehead! (if I can call myself that. Is there dues involved? Where do I get my T-Shirt?)
I gotta say something here though.
A couple of guys said to me at The Farm that It must be nice having Gilmour live so close and skateing with him.
Well, yes and no.
Yes, it's good in that he's a great teacher and all but....

The place where we skate here has basically two hills. One is not so steep and the other is. (Shady lane falls somewhere in between them).
JG likes the steep hill and sets these tight, meandering, fast, flesh eating, but puckering, totally unmakeable (except by him), courses from HELL!!
"If you can make this, you can make anything" he says.
The problem is, I can't. But I gotta try because after all, he's only here for the summer. So I do, and I go down hard, and I get up and do it again.
So then I decide to show up early for a session and set the course myself on the not so steep hill. John pulls up and I say "Course is already set John, let's skate this for a while". He says, "thats great but I'll set one over on the steep hill too". "Yea....ok (mumbling under my breath) you f$%king a**hole.
So I skate his course, butt fully puckered, scared out of my mind, praying that I don't slam like I know I'm going to.
Then I go down hard. Get up and do it again.
Its not "Camp Gilmour", it's "Boot Camp Gilmour".

I have developed ulcers anticipating the next session.
I have constant road rash.
When the phone rings I wince.
This is what its like living 5 minutes from John Gilmour.

But you know what?? Bring it on!! Because if the day ever comes when I can go into one of JG's steep hill courses hot, and come out hotter is the day you all better watch out!!! (note that I said "if").
Thanks John.
I wanted to thank you at "The Farm" but was too wrapped up in trying not to screw up and chasing my kids around.
By the way, not much mention of JG's blistering runs at Da Farm. More than a second faster than anyone else!
While I'm in the thanking mode: Thanks TK and Tway for putting on a great race. Thanks Noah for going out of your way to always say some encouraging words (we should all do this). And thanks to everyone I've ever met in slalom. It's rare to have a great sport filled with such great people.
I hope I did'nt go over the top and ramble on too much.
Had a three martini lunch.:}


That was the summer I won the 2002 Longboard World Championships and Troy was the only guy I trained with... getting me out there running cones. I owe a lot to Troy, I wouldn't have won it without him.

I still wouldn't reccommend Troy's strategy- to ANYONE- even though it made him the fastest progressing slalom skater I have ever seen. I know I couldn't endure the slams he took- and believe me those were some pretty spectacular twisted slalm sliding road rash falls- with more determination spilled on the course than even blood--and there was blood...my empty first aid kit in my Mercedes is proof. He would be ripping through a course well beyond anything that would be set at a pro or world championship race...and somewhere in there...a few cones from the end- at top speed- something might go horribly wrong- and he'd go down. AND THEN he'd get up- bleeding. And walk up and go for it again- even harder. He's not wreckless- in fact extremely level headed- pure determination. I think a part of his determination was to catch up to his new found pack of best friends- with guys, friendship is best when you are all on the same level.

I'll never forget the look I had on my face when he made one of those super fast ultra tech courses I set... and if you think my expression of seeing him make one of my personal courses (which I rarely see anyone make)...you should have seen his face- better than any Olympic athlete moment.

That's why I love skating with Troy.

[Joe Iacovelli]

Thank you John. I will miss watching Troy skate. He was smooth, focused, and very competitive without being a dick about it. I'll miss him and his quiet sense of humor. My heart goes out to his sister Trish (one of our slalom family), Laura who spent so many hours at the timing table helping us run the races, and to his children. It a sad and terrible loss for all of us.

[David Smart]

John, I think I vaguely remember going out with you, your son, and my dad for a slalom session when I was younger. (Though it may have not been you lol sorry.) But anyways, the passage you have written here about my father reduced me to tears as I read what he had written about slalom. He truly did love the sport as much as someone possibly could, and it makes me thoroughly regret every time I was "too tired" to go out and skate with him.

Over the past day I have been reading countless facebook comments on my Aunt Trish's (another avid slalom-er) profile, and pictures from all of the people that he has been friends with in the slalom community and it is truly amazing. I myself don't know much about he slalom community, but seeing the positive impact it had on my father's life, i'd like to get more involved myself in the near future. Though slalom is not my forte, I think with the combination of my dad's genes, and as he would say "stupid kickflipper skating" experience, with some practice, hopefully, I can progress quickly.

At some point in the future i would like to host some kind of slalom competition out here on eastern Long Island in memory of my dad. I am not positive how to make that happen on my own so i would need some of you veterans to help me figure out the details. it doesn't have to be huge, just a gathering at my house, where there is quite a sizable and nicely paved road (plus a half pipe in the backyard). I'm not sure if this is too much to ask, as it would probably be an expensive trip for most people, but your help would be greatly appreciated.

Once again thank you SO much John, you don't know how much this would have meant to my dad, and how much it does mean to my family and I.

-David Smart

[Joe Iacovelli]

David,

I would be honored to assist you. Email me at iaco@att.net or hit me up on facebook.

[Hans Koraeus]

His race results can be found at his ranking home page at...

http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/slalo ... ar=2010-AM

One day I will do some statistics for each rider on these pages. Best results and ranking place listing over the years and so on.
If you have a pic on him we can put it in.

[Claude Regnier]

Thanks John & Joe! David it would be our pleasure to help make it happen if we can! Our deepest sympathies goes out to the family! I am still in a bit of a haze maybe I will be able to post something later!!! RIP Troy!!!

[Cat Y]

I didn't know Troy, but Trish used to talk about him a lot.
Trish is my best sk8 bud & my thoughts & prayers are with her & her family at this sad time.
Take some time out today & give someone a hug.

*****David, a skateboard get-together would be a great way to honor your dad!

[Karl Floitgraf]

I wanted to post this video of Troy winning one of our local race series in Magnolia Woods back in June 2005. Troy was always very laid back and had an incredible smooth and powerful style. I learned a lot and I got a whole heck of a lot faster because of him. He always had a warm smile and I always enjoyed shooting the shit with him at the bottom of the hill.

https://vimeo.com/54169018

The video features Slalom riders, Terence Kirby, Joe Iacovelli, Glenn Chapman and Curt Debartolo just to name a few...

[T Whalen]

He will be greatly missed!

My heartfelt condolences to Troy's family and loved ones.

Wherever you are this weekend - run some cones or sk8 a park in his honor.

Rest in Peace Troy.

[John Gilmour]

John, I think I vaguely remember going out with you, your son, and my dad for a slalom session when I was younger. (Though it may have not been you lol sorry.) But anyways, the passage you have written here about my father reduced me to tears as I read what he had written about slalom. He truly did love the sport as much as someone possibly could, and it makes me thoroughly regret every time I was "too tired" to go out and skate with him.

Over the past day I have been reading countless facebook comments on my Aunt Trish's (another avid slalom-er) profile, and pictures from all of the people that he has been friends with in the slalom community and it is truly amazing. I myself don't know much about he slalom community, but seeing the positive impact it had on my father's life, i'd like to get more involved myself in the near future. Though slalom is not my forte, I think with the combination of my dad's genes, and as he would say "stupid kickflipper skating" experience, with some practice, hopefully, I can progress quickly.

At some point in the future i would like to host some kind of slalom competition out here on eastern Long Island in memory of my dad. I am not positive how to make that happen on my own so i would need some of you veterans to help me figure out the details. it doesn't have to be huge, just a gathering at my house, where there is quite a sizable and nicely paved road (plus a half pipe in the backyard). I'm not sure if this is too much to ask, as it would probably be an expensive trip for most people, but your help would be greatly appreciated.

Once again thank you SO much John, you don't know how much this would have meant to my dad, and how much it does mean to my family and I.

-David Smart

David, your Dad is a major influence on me, mostly because even though he dealt with real pain every day he rarely complained unless it was absolutely necessary. I took your Dad to Killington once to go hardboot snowboarding, but the forces on his knees were just too great- after only two short runs they swelled up to the size of big grapefruits, he had the technique but the G-forces he was generating were too much to bear. Last year I developed a new style of riding that doesn't create as much G-force and I wanted to show your Dad ...get him up to the slopes again. I'm sure he'd say I was nuts.

So his knees bothered him all the time, (I think from skiing moguls in Utah) and he worked hard pulling wire, probably on his knees. He would describe the coolest alarm systems to me (ones that weighed you to tell if an intruder was a deer or a person, ones that would track people if they left a package in a room and went to another room ) how he kept up with all this technology was pretty wild always changing. But it was not easy on him- it was a ton of painful work.

So today, I am recovering from ankle surgery, I had a bone spur removed. And ironically, this triggered a massive inflamation attack in both my knees and my other ankle- .... as I try to move... it is super painful - pretty debiliatating. I have no idea how your father coped with it. I try not to complain..but I just can't hold that stuff in like your Dad. But you would never know he was in pain until you saw his knees swell up. Your Dad is the very essense of the best meaning of the word humble. It's a gift.

Troy talked about making a cool timing system with a large multi connector timing cable that also carried speaker signal for loudspeakers and feeding video monitors which would run the length of the course.. to make the scene even better. Those SMART ramps were just so well designed- the transitions on them were just perfect- they were better designed than any ramp of its size before them- the transitions were perfect... your Dad really thought a lot of things through to completion. He was always working on something in his shop down in the basement.

I think you came to Massachusetts and skated with Bryan (My ex GF's Son) with your Dad. I also skated with you when you were really young in The Hamptons (I think you were 6- it was 2002) in this cool development that Troy wrote about in the first post. There were actually three hills and we would set an easy course for you guys to do on the easy slope at the top. Ten years goes ...it slips by silently.. thousandths of second at a time.

It's also cool to see footage of Troy skating- he has a very distinctive style that is deceptively quick. Not a lot of flailing around- just good focused solid drive. I think he did really well at the Red Clay Cup race too, and Possibly in Luna. He really looked forward to those races- we'd talk about what courses and set up he was running- I'd give him some course setting stuff to try out. I don't know how he did it all. Most people send footage of them skating but your Dad did it all by himself and figured it out.

I'm sure he would like to see a race happen in the Hamptons- he' always given so much to the slalom resurgence..so keep an eye out for some super smooth pavement. I used to hunt for slalom hills I called it "Good Hill Hunting", this was before topo maps on the iPad...I'd tell your Dad to look at tree lines descending quickly... or to get a map and look for hills called "Summit Ave", "Scenic View", "Bob Sled" , "Sunrise" , "Overlook" ..etc...

Your Dad would vary his routes to and from different job sites and find the absolutely BEST places to skate. Everytime I would try to did what your Dad did I would just get hopelessly lost on some back road. He was just good at everything he did. I knew whenever I came to skate with your Dad he would have the newest pavement on the best hill.... I would pull up to this perfect blacktop without even the lines painted yet... "Troy, how the hell did you find this? This is INSANE!! How do you find these hills on this "flat Island"?" He'd just shrug, smile- quickly stuff a stack of cones in my arms "we only ahve so much sunlight- set it up!" ..... and I'd start dropping a course, psyched for the great pavement. Walking up we'd talk about how it would be great to host a race, and try to figure out the logistics of getting people to Long Island from all parts of New England. I still can't remember where all the hills were.

If you ever want to learn how to skate faster, I'll teach you anything you want to know... you have your Dad's genetics and a lot younger joints. Or if you ever want to snowboard and get really good fast, and fast AND good.. just let me know. The determination is up to you, that's not genetic..it's learned.

My Mom LOVED to race. She raced Mercedes Gullwings and beat all the guys at Limerock Park. I never was really interested in racing until I got into skateboards. I'm sure even if skateboarding isn't your type of racing you'll find racing somewhere IN YOU at some point....it's just THERE. Your Dad would take you to slalom because he told me that it was in you.

One other thing... historically, fast slalom racers tyoically came in pairs, Hester/Skoldberg, Piercy/Ryan, Ransom/Evans, One thing I shared with your father was not having someone close by to skate with- so like your Dad I typically skated alone (still do) - looking forward to the next race where all my friends would be, dropping in on little pockets of slalom here and there. It's easier if you have someone to skate with regularly (Safer too) so if one of your brothers is up for it at least you won't be chalking every circle yourself.

There is something very tranquil though... about walking up a chilled piece of fall blacktop with the sun setting all alone after a super fast clean run...you wonder if anyone saw it.




Somebody post up the Red Clay Cup footage..I think there is a final between Vlad and Troy. This is Troy's race page after all!




***Somewhere I think I have some footage of you and your brothers flying this Kite Surfer trainer on the beach with your dad. email me at johngilmour atttttttt rocketmail dot com and I'll send it to you when I get a new computer.