In the fast lane

Nick Dompierre likes to go fast. Really fast. Fast enough to knock you flat on your back while you’re left scraping his cloud of dust outta your mouth. And we haven’t even mentioned his skateboarding yet.

Born in 1986 and humbly growing up in the quaint Massachusetts town of New Bedford, Nick D learned to make the best out of what he had—even when it came to his very own skateboard. “The first board I was riding and was pretty hacked up—pretty much, there wasn’t even a tail on it.” But despite having to learn on a lemon of a board, if you wanted to find the young ripper, there was still only one place you had to look: the local skatepark. As a teenager, it became the third part of his daily routine. Wake up, go to school, and head to the park.

As his skateboard slowly splintered into smithereens, luckily for Dompierre, someone was there to take him under their wing. Skaters from his town’s skateshop, Solstice, saw the number of tricks little Dompierre was quickly adding to his artillery. But one of them took a look at his beaten board and knew something wasn’t right. “He saw the board I was riding and gave me a brand new full complete,” Dompierre says. “It was a Blind board or something, and it had a full tail. I was super stoked. And I just kept skating.” With a fresh setup under his feet, Dompierre was soon taking on the biggest of handrails, gaps, and stairs with the composure of a Samurai solider and the explosiveness of a sawed-off shotgun. Word spread across the country of the up-and-coming skills of the kid from Massachusetts. At the ripe-for-the-picking age of sixteen, Dompierre accepted a sponsorship offer from the widely respected San Francisco-based Real skateboards.

THE YEAR OF THE DOMPIERRE
After releasing his first full-length video part in Real’s Roll Forever in 2005, the world got their first formal introduction to the then 18-year-old amateur skaterboarder. Just twelve months later, in 2006, the “Year of the Dompierre” officially began. Besides trade marking what many have called one of the best backside noseblunt-slides and 360 flips in the business, he graced the front covers of two major magazines, Thrasher and Slap. To this day, Dompierre hails his Thrasher cover—a photo of a do-or-die ollie down a San Diego gap—one of his best breakthrough moments in his career. While the magazines solidified his carnage in the streets, his ability on the contest scene was also alive and well that same year. He won the Top Am Performance at the Vans Downtown Showdown and took 2nd place at the Volcom Amsterdam Am Best Trick contest. “I’ll skate any contest,” he says. “It’s pretty fun. You get to see a lot of skaters you haven’t seen in awhile and just cruise around with everyone.”

Finally, to top off one amazing year, Dompierre was nominated for Transworld SKATEboarding’s 2006 Street Skater of the Year, an honor that rarely, if ever, has been given to a skater at the amateur level. Although he didn’t win, in early 2007, he was promoted to the professional ranks and Real gave him his own pro-model board.

BURNING RUBBER
Exploding off the starting line into his pro career isn’t the only time Dompierre has found himself making his way towards the checkered flag. For as long as he’s been strengthening his skills on his skateboard, he’s also been flexing the muscles on his suped-up ’87 Camaro. “I got that as my first car and I got it really cheap, and always wanted to make it fast,” he says. “So, I’d skate and get photo incentive checks and be psyched so I could put money into it. It’s cool.” Dompierre drives like he skates—pedal to the metal—and whether he’s at the track or in the middle of a street race, he boasts he’s crossed the finish line in first place more often than not. “I’ve won a lot of ’em. But I lost one time to this guy in Connecticut when my nitrous didn’t work.” Nitrous? Yeah, it’s definitely hooked up in the Camaro and Dompierre fires it at will. “Hitting the nitrous feels good. When you’re at the track, it definitely puts you back in your seat.” His ultimate goal is to drive the quarter-mile in eight seconds.

NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Not afraid to rock a ’stash on his lip and rarely seen without a grey beanie covering his head, Dompierre’s signature stylistic choices are more about function than fashion then one would think. “I had a mustache, but I had to cut it,” he says. And as far as the beanie goes, “I can’t see without my hat. My hair’s just too long. I might cut it soon and just donate it to cancer, but I figure I have had it this long so I might as well just keep going.”

For now, when he’s not hiding his locks under his beanie and not breaking sound barriers in his car or on his board, Dompierre spends time with friends in Massachusetts, shooting some pool or bowling. No matter what far off country Dompierre’s skate trips take him, he never forgets his New Bedford humble beginnings, especially when compared to the many opportunities available to skaters coming up in California. “Pretty much everybody on the West Coast gets hooked up. They see demos every day,” he says. “Back home, kids don’t see that every day. If they get a demo, all the kids go there and they’re just psyched to see a pro.”

Now Dompierre is the pro the kids are begging to see and with filming for two video parts simultaneously nearing completion, they’re pleads will soon be answered.