The Olden Gays

While Web browsing on a local message board last month, Campbell discovered a posting from a sports television production firm called Zoom Culture, which was producing a televised Big Wheel race down Lombard with a course and rules that were nearly identical to the event he'd already participated in. "It was a little too specific to be [coincidental]," Campbell says of the plans for a televised race, which was to be shown by a Fox Sports affiliate.

Campbell e-mailed Brumit, who was upset at the prospect of having his idea stolen for someone else's gain. Brumit called the producer listed in the ad, Scott Foreman, whom he described as highly defensive. Foreman, who says the idea came from one of his bosses, still pooh-poohs the notion that it was stolen: "If you grew up in the '80s, you've raced a Big Wheel down a steep incline. ... It wasn't invented in San Francisco."

After a few testy conversations, however, the two seem to have reached a shaky truce regarding the still-unscheduled event.

Brumit says Foreman told him the race will not be presented as a Zoom Culture production, but rather as Brumit's own event. Or, as Foreman puts it: "I'm sort of featuring him to humor him."

Campbell hopes the differences stay resolved.

"Oh, yeah, I'm looking forward to it," the racer says, recalling past spills. "I mean, my ass isn't. But I am."
By Jeremy Mullman