Flat track, all girl, Roller Derby is back!
Last summer I was contacted by a very nice lady named Kim Sin from Tucson Roller Derby, who asked me to draw some graphics & design some web pages for the new league down there, which at the time consisted of two teams -- The Furious Truckstop Waitresses (FTW) & The Iron Curtain -- which Kim described as: “ B-movies style badass sexy bitches.” Adding. “(You) Don't know if they're gonna kill you or fuck you -- maybe both.” No Now, that’s a concept I can really get behind, so I got behind my pencils & drawing board right away, & blasted out exactly what the Ladies asked for.
I had heard that all-girl derby was making a “come back” from my good friend Rachel Abuse, who is a derby girl down in Austin, Texas. I knew from listening to her, that it isn’t the fake-ass fluffy shit called RollerJam that The Nashville Network (later renamed The National Network, then The New TNN, & finally known today as Spike TV) tried to pass off as derby back around ‘98/’99. The real roller derby of today is made up of tough-as-nails punk rock bitches that are ready & willing to take their bumps, & more than able to dish them out.
In 1935, during the Great Depression, Roller Derby got it’s start right here in Chicago, when Leo A. Seltzer conceived it as an endurance contest between male/female couples. The goal of each couple was to skate 57,000 complete laps -- a distance equivalent to that between New York & LA -- non-stop, around an oval shaped banked track.
The derby became increasingly popular, & during the 40’s & 50’s, it evolved to add contact, a points scoring system, teams, & eventually leagues. Throughout the 60’s & 70’s it grew tremendously, until the bottom suddenly fell out in 1973, for reasons that some still argue about. Despite many attempts to recapture the glory days, it has never quite been able to match the commercial success that it once enjoyed.
RollerJam’s big attempt to revive the sport in ‘98 was nothing but a waste of time & money, mostly because they hired actors, not only to skate, but to be in the audience! Millions of dollars were spent, & millions of viewers, including myself, tuned in to watch the first match, but it was so goddamn scripted & fakey looking that it tanked big-time & was a critical as well as a financial flop. It folded up like some panty-waisted sissy-girl after less than two seasons.
And that’s exactly why it’s taking some good hearted, true believers to DIY CPR this shit back to life! Girls who don’t give a fuck about commercial success, or their next close-up. Girls who just wanna beat on some sorry ass broads from the other side, because it’s fun to fight & roller skate at the same time. My kind of ladies.
Recently, I was very psyched to hear that The Windy City Roller Derby League had just been formed here in good old Chi-town, where it all began! My friend, & founding member, Val Capone tells me that the girls of the City of Big Shoulders are tougher than any other chicks in any other city, & they’re ready to brawl!
