By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Sports Editor

When we last left our local street luging firefighter from Fayetteville, he had just won a race at Mt. Cheaha.

Al Braun, known on the street luge circuit as Scarecrow, and his teammates on the Bod Rodz Land Luge Workz Racing Team have been tearing up the courses and storming up the rankings recently.

Their most recent race was in Madison, Ind. at the Hanging Rock N' Roll Street Luge Race. Braun won every round, advancing to the finals, while teammate Doug “Tin Man” Anderson secured his first career street luge win. Scarecrow was facing the Tin Man in the final, when a disaster of sorts erupted. Braun came racing around a corner and crashed, flying up the Hanging Rock wall.

“I was going about 50 miles per hour,” said Braun. “I survived though and took fourth place. The crash was in front of the bleachers and the crowd went nuts when I got back up and finished the race.” Anderson finished first in the final.

Both Braun and Anderson are planning on going pro in the very near future. They continue to pummel the competition at the amateur level and both feel that moving up a notch will make them better racers. Braun believes that the team's recent successes are due to several key things; superior equipment, an excellent teacher and a winning team philosophy.

Anderson is the owner of Bod Rodz Land Luge Workz and has created the current design of the luge. “It's just a fantastic design,” said Braun. “I only had to replace the wheels after the crash and that's incredible.” Professional rider Ed Bryant has been a mentor as well as a teammate to Braun and Anderson. Bryant has competed in the X Games and was carrying a hefty ranking earlier in the summer. Anderson's son, Landon, also races with the Bod Rodz team.

The team is now a force to be reckoned with and it may be because they have adopted Nascar team driving tactics in their racing style. They draft, position, and block for each other, using their tactics to advance. They practice in all types of weather with groups of seasoned veterans. By honing their skills, the members of the Bod Rodz team have avoided serious injury and improve at a dramatic pace.

The pace can tend to be a bit slow due to financial reasons, though. Many of the important qualifiers and races take place on the West Coast. Bod Rodz hopes to get some sponsors to eliminate some of their costs and the riders also are looking into taking on individual sponsors. If you'd like to know more, keep your eyes open for segments about street luge on Extreme TV on Fox Sports South or visit the Bod Rodz website at www.freeyellow.com:8080/members7/streetluge.

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