I'd say this guy was not the brightest bulb in the pack. Got this from the Fairbanks Daily News Miner.
Fairbanks man dies after car surfing
By Chris Freiberg
Published Wednesday, June 17, 2009
FAIRBANKS — Alaska State Troopers are investigating the death of a Fairbanks man who apparently died performing an act known as car surfing.
Roman Retynski, 34, was found dead on the side of the road Thursday near 36 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road.
A woman with Retynski at the time told his family that she had “lost” him the previous night after he climbed on the hood of a truck as it sped down the road at between 60 to 70 mph, Retynski’s mother, Ruth, said. The pair were heading toward the Retynski family cabin further down the road.
The woman looked for Retynski that night but was unable to find him.
She headed to a nearby campground for the night, and contacted Retynski’s brother, who found his body. It was sad but not entirely unexpected news for the family.
“This is Roman,” Ruth Retynski said. “He was the daredevil of the family.”
At 6-feet-1-inch tall and 210 pounds, Retynski was in good shape, and took advantage of his athleticism to perform daring feats. By day he was a master electrician, but he was also the type of person who would go Bungie jumping multiple times at the fair, Ruth said.
And he was also known to go car surfing.
Ruth said she has heard stories from his friends that he might have performed the stunt, in which he would sit on the hood of vehicle and lean back on the windshield as someone drove, at least 100 times since the age of 15.
He thought he was invincible, she said.
“He liked to gamble with life,” Ruth said. “I know when he was flying off the hood, he didn’t think he would die, he was just thinking, ‘This is going to hurt.’”
Popularized by films such as “Teen Wolf” and “Death Proof,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even issued a report last year warning of the dangers of car surfing. Between 1990 and August 2008, 58 people died from car surfing, and another 41 were injured, according to the report.
However, Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said this was the first reported case of car surfing she had heard of in Alaska.
“Standing on top of a car going any speed is at best a bad idea and at worst fatal as in this case,” she said.
Peters said that investigators are awaiting the results of an autopsy before closing the case.
As for the Retynski family, they plan to complete Roman’s trip this weekend, spreading his ashes and those of his recently deceased father at Angel Creek near the family’s cabin.
“I know he’s with the Lord,” Ruth said. “He was a wild one, but he had a strong faith.”
