Benny G
2012-08-28 13:39:08 | 2551 views | 0 Comments

Parks: It’s good to see that takes the top spot.

Zane: That one really hurt, man, because now I have a droopy eye and I have to be careful in pictures and shit.

Parks: No, you’re beautiful, man. Any tips to getting back after an injury, like mentally and physically? Obviously, it has happened to you numerous times. You see people who tear an ACL and never really come back.

Zane: Dude, if you can do it in rehab and can jump up on a box and jump off that shit, then you can do it on the water and you just have to have confidence. Because you know where you have to be and how you have to land, and once you keep doing the tricks and start building your confidence back up, then you can start doing some new stuff. While I am not the picture of fitness like you, working out in rehab is like the number-one thing, man.

Parks: Yeah, nice. Could you tell a quick story about when we met at a George Blair barefoot endurance contest?

Zane: Well, we were at Sonesta Village on Sand Lake in Orlando. I was 11 and you were 5. And, again, you know, no Internet, but I heard all these stories about how good Parks Bonifay was and he’s going to win the barefoot endurance contest. And well, damn it, I didn’t want to lose. I offered you $10 to take a fall. You didn’t. I’m pretty sure you kicked my ass.

Parks: OK, this is going to be a good one. You obviously drunk from the Pro Wakeboard Tour fountain of youth. You’ve seen so many wakeboarders come and go. How do you keep doing it after 20 years? And why?

Zane: How do I keep doing it year after year? Shit, I’m doing it because I just want to get out there. To be honest, I talk to people all the time. These guys are like 35. They buy a boat and they’re like, “Oh, I can’t go wakeboarding anymore,” and I’m like “Bullshit. You can go wakeboard.” So I want to go out there and show them that, yeah at 35-plus you can wakeboard. More importantly, I went out and rode today, and it’s like going to the beach and going surfing. It’s like a mental reset for me. It makes me happy. I’m not going to go out there and make the finals. I know that. I don’t care about that. I’m going out there to prove something to myself and have a good time and show people that at 35 you can still charge at the wake. Yeah, you’re going to have some aches and pains, but to me, launching off that lip and just frickin’ getting pulled up, that’s more important. That makes me happy.

Parks: Who’s your all-time favorite person to be on the boat with?

Zane: Not to blow smoke up your skirt, but all-time favorite, I love to get in the boat with you. Whether you’re riding or not, you always have some smart-ass remark to say, and I kind of assimilate to that really well. But, you know, right now I ride a lot with Jeff House. Jeff is a giver. He always tells me to try different stuff and encourages me, and that’s good. It’s hard to get an old man to try different stuff. Trust me.

Parks: Old dog, new tricks. What’s the most dangerous thing you have ever done?

Zane: Holy shit, I don’t know.

Parks: I’m going to go with double front off a kicker.

Zane: That might have been the most brutal to the body, but there are some things we did in rental cars. I jumped one on the super-cross track at Texas Ski Ranch, and then I jumped one into a culver out there. I’ve really done some weird shit in rental cars.

Parks: Hey, did you ever try the Mike Tollsman double wrap single ski seven?

Zane: Hell no! Mike Tollsman is on crack!