Just too strange....
Man kills self after dropping out of endurance contest
By Cox News Service
Thursday, September 15, 2005
LONGVIEW, Texas -- A contestant in the internationally popular Hands on a Hardbody contest at Patterson Nissan in Longview has killed himself after dropping out of the contest on its third day.
According to witnesses, 24-year-old Ricky Vega dropped out around 6 a.m. Thursday. He politely excused himself and walked away.
Witnesses said Vega went directly to a Kmart across the street, threw a trash can through a window and quickly went into the store.
"It was the most surreal thing I've ever seen in my life," said Dru Laborde, a program director for KYKX radio and a media participant in the contest.
Police said they were called at 5:59 a.m. When they arrived, they saw Vega walking from the back of the store toward the doors. He had a shotgun in his hands, police said, and shot himself. A small group of people at Kmart said they were part of Vega's contest support crew and family. They also declined to comment.
Vega, who lived in Tyler, worked for FedEx and Rander Metal.
Laborde said he had arrived at the contest at 5:30 a.m. Thursday and spoke with Vega.
"He was fine," Laborde said, adding that Vega had said he was in the contest for the long haul.
Vega had competed in the contest last year, but dropped out because of a family emergency.
Contest officials declined to comment immediately and asked other contestants not to speak with reporters.
This was the contest's 13th year. Signs and equipment around it were quickly pulled down and officials said the endurance competition would not continue.
The Hardbody contest drew international fame after a filmmaker from East Texas documented the 1995 version in a film released in 1997. Since then, the contest has been copied and modified around the world. The contest requires competitors to keep at least one hand on a pickup truck as long as possible with few breaks. It generally has lasted several days.
The last person standing wins the truck and other prizes.