Early Tales of Tracker Trucks and TransWorld SKATEboarding Magazine

The Skateboard Industry was coming back after a crash in sales in 1980/81. Young kids were turning from BMX craze and looking at skateboarding as a new challenge and cool factor.

Larry at his desk in the Tremont office of Tracker and TransWorld. You can see one of the first issues of the magazine layout on the wall behind him. This was before computers so the issues were put together on pin-up boards.

Back in 1982, after their February issue, Action Now magazine ceases publication. Thrasher publishes their infamous “Skate and Destroy” article by CR Stecyk III and an Independent Trucks company ad featuring a naked girl with Indy stickers on her nipples. After Thrasher refuses to run a counterpoint article called “Skate and Create” written by Tracker founder Larry Balma’s sidekick, Tracker Peggy Cozens, they decide to launch their own magazine TransWorld SKATEboarding magazine.

Peggy and Tom Cozens wearing one of the first TransWorld SKATEboarding T-shirts.

Larry worked at night on the magazine and during the day ran the Tracker production.

Tracker Trucks was rolling, sales were picking up, but the only problem was that there was only one magazine for skateboarding published in the United States and it didn’t cover all of skateboarding. It was, as most in the industry called, a catalog for Santa Cruz skateboards and the Independent, Truck Company, taking advertising from all the other skateboarding manufacturers but only featuring stories and photos on their own team primarily in NorCal. Thrasher was hardcore and included sex, drugs, and alcohol parties. This message was not helping parents of our new young customers accept skateboarding as a mainstream activity. Especially the rural American families. Of course, the parents were the ones that bought the boards. We needed to have a magazine that could showcase our sport to skaters and their parents in order to grow. So the other manufacturers encouraged Larry Balma and Peggy Cozens to publish a skateboarding magazine that would cover all types of skateboarding, all manufacturers riders, all over the world and show just how rad skateboarding is. Thrasher was printed on newsprint paper in black and white, so TransWorld SKATEboarding was published on glossy paper, in living color.

Tracker Larry and Tracker Peggy at an early skateboarding contest at Del Mar Skate Ranch.

Larry and Peggy had no experience in magazine publishing so it was a quick education; they pulled together some very talented skateboarders such as Garry “GSD” Davis, Per Holknekt, Bryan Ridgeway, Tony Hawk, Neil Blender, Lance Mountain, Grant Brittain, Tony Hawks dad Frank, and John Webster. CR Stecyk III and Stacy Peralta also were part of the early staff. They both were working at the time with Powell Peralta and didn’t want to risk harming relationships with Thrasher Magazine, so they worked under the alias names of “Some Dude” and “Special Persana”.

Many of the guys worked for Tracker Trucks during the day grinding trucks, assembling, and packaging, and at night would work on the magazine. With long days and nights, many of the crew ended up living at Tracker, sleeping on the floor, or if they got lucky slept on Larry’s couch in his office.

GSD always skated late at night. He would come back to Tracker and climb the ladder in the closet and crawl into the space between the roof and the upstairs kitchen ceiling to sleep. One morning early Peggy Cozens was making coffee in the kitchen and Garry turned over and crashed through the drywall. Surprised, scared, and mad Peggy banned GSD from the attic. He moved in with Larry, his daughter Laurie, and Bryan Ridgeway.

Here is the first organizational chart showing who reported to who.

Peggy and Larry shared the same office upstairs. This is Peggy’s side of the office with her son Marc wearing the Tracker star t-shirt. Marc still works for TransWorld as the creative director. (Left to right: Dylan, Jan, Marc, and Peggy.)

This is the building on Tremont Street in Oceanside, California where Tracker Trucks and TransWorld SKATEboarding crew worked. Transworld occupied the upper floor and Tracker was on the ground floor.

That same year Titus Dittman launches Monster skateboarding magazine in Germany. Later his Munster Monster Mastership becomes Europe’s largest skateboard contest.

A tribute to a photographer who passed away, the Rusty Harris Series includes vert contests at Upland, Whittier, and Del Mar all in SoCal.

Upcoming talent for 1982 included Lester Kasai, Keith Meek, Chris Miller, Rodney Mullen, Jeff Phillips, and Mark “Gator” Rogowski.

Per Holknekt skated for Tracker Trucks and worked as TransWorlds European correspondent on the magazine.

Tod Swank was one of the first photographers Grant Brittain brought on board to help get the photos for TransWorld. He was also the darkroom tech which was a lot more work to print photos before digital cameras came along.

We spent many nights at Del Mar Skate Ranch when we weren’t working on a print deadline. This was the raw beginning and we were set to grow. Larry has gone into his collection and pulled out the first four original issues of TransWorld SKATEboarding magazine, published in 1983, all in excellent condition, no cuts, and all pages are intact. Larry has signed the very first issue and this very unique collection of magazines also includes some of the first TransWorld SKATEboarding stickers. Check out the store for this item as well as many other items from Larry’s personal stash.

Action Sports Trade Show in 1986. TransWorld and Tracker were some of the first companies to attend. This was the first booth for TransWorld.

Larry and Peggy count the gate revenue at a skateboarding contest in Canada that Tracker and TransWorld sponsored.

This was the first rate card with the advertising sizes, print schedule and the ad rates.

This is the letter to potential advertisers that was sent out with the first issue. Larry and Peggy printed the first issue without asking for advertising dollars, but after the first issue went out, all the advertisers were happy to support the new magazine.