The next Twangled installation is currently in production and will be released early summer. All Twangled Up features highlights from the 2012 tour and more!
A few months ago I was out in Vegas for a conference. With a few hours to kill between landing at the airport and the opening keynote address, I decided to walk the strip as opposed to cabbing it. After all it was warm and sunny, something that I had not seen in a few months! A few blocks into my descent on Las Vegas Boulevard, I stumbled upon an unusual scene. An IHOP booth had been setup at the Paris Hotel & Casino.
Behind the scenes of the Las Vegas IHOP Commercial
As I approached I quickly realized that something was being filmed. I hardly got within 100 feet before being recruited to be one of the excited background people (must have been the business casual look). Turns out they were filming an IHOP commercial.
Behind the scenes of the Paris Casino IHOP commercial filmed in March of 2013.
I was part of a crowd of would-be passers bye that was to be very excited about IHOP & their pancakes. I am assuming the excited crowd shots got dropped as I did not see that in the commercial. It is always interesting to see how much footage is filmed and how little is often actually used.
Ironically, I stopped in the first place because I was curious of everything from how they were managing lighting, to what extra scenes were being captured, and I was front row.
The production was very well-run and professional in all. It was a well spent 1/2 hour!
Its been 20 years now since I first started racing on tour on a 1986 Kawasaki X-2. It was a blast. My favorite OEM machine ever! Two years ago the IJSBA decided to have the X-2′s race for the anniversary of the World Finals. There was much out-pour and now 2 years later I am now hoping to finally get a chance to take some laps on the machine I grew up riding at the World Finals.
For those of you that are not Sport Runanbout history majors, I started jet ski tour in 1993, arguably the last competitive year for the X-2 on a race coarse. I raced it a few times in 94′ but it was not all that fun against the new larger and much faster Yamaha wave blaster. Gen 1 X-2 racing among die-hard vintage racers is heating up and I am excited to get to ride with so many passionate X-2ers.
This X-2 is a 1992 hull. It boasts a 781 SXR motor and electrical with dual 40 mm carbs. Its got a Factory Pipe and rear exhaust. UMI steering, and a Jet Dynamics ride plate make this machine pretty much race ready! I can’t wait to go for a ride.
Special thanks to Jay Schmidt from Action Extreme up in Plymouth, Wisconsin. He actually built this ski for me to race this year!
What can I say… My new site is finally here. It is a little thin of content now, but stay tuned, there will be a unique voice here from Twangled and Freestyle Factory. I have planned for this site to focus on my numerous personal creative projects and competitive career in jet ski freestyle and racing. For now you can find my personal video playlist. Most of these videos are on the Twangled player. In time this player will grow to house unique content as well. I look forward to reviving some legendary vintage footage and pictures from the last 20 years of jet ski tour as well as posting other never before seen footage from along the way.
