Vaughn Shafer’s birthday parties are legendary.
For decades now, on a chilly evening in late January, some 50 people have trekked up to Shafer’s 36-acre property near Lookout Mountain to ride vintage American Flyer sleds down his steep, 2.5-mile long driveway. Before it was sleds, they’d pile into Shafer’s river canoes, using the paddles to steer and brake.
One year, as Shafer was piloting a canoe down the driveway, a car was coming up. His friends wanted to pull over and let it pass, but Shafer wouldn’t hear of it. “No, let’s pass them,” he said. As the canoe sluiced down the driveway, the car swung around and parked at the bottom of the hill. A county sheriff stepped out, incredulous.
“What the hell are you doing? I just clocked you doing 45 mph in a canoe!”
Shafer chuckles as he recounts the story, but not in a nostalgic, “Those were the good old days” type of way. Even on sleds instead of canoes, the birthday party driveway drag races show no sign of slowing down, even as Shafer’s age creeps upward.
For anyone who doesn’t get the birthday invite, a new documentary will feature a little behind-the-scenes footage. “Driven by Angels,” set to premiere at the Wheeler Opera House in January or February, spotlights Shafer’s adrenaline-fueled lifestyle — on his birthday and beyond.
The film centers on Shafer’s attempt to set a new world record for the fastest ride on a motorized skateboard, a goal he hit in September 2024, at age 63. But the record itself is only the scaffolding for the film. The heart of “Driven by Angels” is Shafer: The third-generation blacksmith whose work is scattered throughout the Roaring Fork Valley; the stuntman who jumped cars; the man who has survived lightning and loss.
A blacksmith with a need for speed
Long before world records and film festivals, Shafer grew up in a world of steel. His father, grandfather and maternal grandfather were blacksmiths and gunsmiths. Shafer learned the trade the way most kids learn to ride a bike. But his life changed suddenly when he was 9 years old, the day he and his father were struck by lightning on a fishing trip. Shafer survived. His father did not.
“I figured the good Lord has me here for a reason,” he said. “And I’ve lived my life on the edge ever since.”
After high school, Shafer became a stuntman at theme parks and outdoor theaters around the country. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, he set records on skateboards and motorcycles, including a Guinness World Record at age 27. In 1999, he set the record for fastest motorized skateboard at 74 mph.
Shafer doubled as a metal worker and stuntman at theme parks and in old-West towns like Rawhide, Arizona. Eventually he came to the Roaring Fork Valley, and his work is ubiquitous here, both indoors and out: from the El Jebel sign to thousands of handrails, chandeliers, fire pits, hinges and pieces of cabinet hardware in homes throughout the Valley. He works for ranchers, for Hollywood types and for local municipalities.
While Shafer’s clients may mostly know him for his gorgeous metal work, anyone who stops by his El Jebel shop can see that he is a man of many talents and interests. Which is exactly what happened to filmmaker Nick Costello when he became Shafer’s apprentice five years ago.
Building the board, and the story
Five years ago, Costello walked into Shafer’s shop wanting to learn how to make Damascus steel knives. He didn’t expect to become part of a three-year journey that would lead to a feature film.
Working in the shop, Costello realized Shafer wasn’t just a craftsman. Skateboards of varying vintages hang on the walls, and newspaper and magazine clippings showing Shafer doing tricks and stunts are pinned to the back of the front door. Costello, curious about the blacksmith’s “other” life, started to ask questions. The stories about Shafer’s past as a stuntman and skateboarder astounded him. He called his longtime friend, videographer and cinematographer Brett Buescher.
“[Shafer’s] story is something that the world needs to know,” Costello said.
Buescher agreed immediately. After years of shooting action sports and running Street Kingpins — a mobile app supporting underground skaters — he’d been looking for a longform project with heart. Shafer was it.
The project crystallized in 2022, when the three decided to build a new motorized skateboard and break the record for the fastest ride — a record Shafer himself set in 1999. Since then, he’d been tinkering with new iterations of a board, but they were rudimentary at best.
The new board would be different: a hybrid machine with skateboard wheels in front, go-kart wheels in back and a 300cc motorcycle engine. Faster and safer, the board also took on a gravitas after it was built. Buescher’s father, Louie, who helped engineer the setup, passed away just months before the final record attempt.
From six months to 30
The original plan was simple: build the board, film the process and capture the record — maybe six months of shooting, Buesher said.
Instead, it took almost three years.
There were engineering setbacks, a near-disastrous day at the dragway, weather delays, scheduling issues and real losses: family members passed away, finances strained and the emotional stakes kept rising.
They finally hit the record — 82.46 mph — in September 2024 at the Western Colorado Dragway in Grand Junction.
Then came the year of editing, sorting through hundreds of hours of footage. All of it — the raw track days and the quieter interviews in Shafer’s shop — became a 99-minute documentary that has already been selected for 27 festivals and won 10 awards.
Their hope now is to get sponsored and picked up by a major network. In the meantime, they plan to travel to a few of the festivals featuring the film. They want to bring the drag board with them and field questions from the crowd.
‘Grandfather of Dragboarding’
With the record in hand and the film on the festival circuit, the trio is now pushing for something bigger: the birth of a new sport.
They call it dragboarding — quarter-mile, head-to-head races on motorized skateboards. Shafer wants to help establish rules, classes and safety standards.
“When Vaughn shows up to the drag strip, this machine gets more attention than the $800,000 cars,” Costello said. “People can’t believe what they’re seeing.”
Shafer’s dream is to become the “Grandfather of Dragboarding,” inspiring a new generation of motorized skateboarders. He says the potential is real, especially because the National Hot Rod Association is always looking for something different.
“As long as we keep it safe, prove it can be done and show it has entertainment value,” Shafer said.
The trio hopes to spend the summer doing head-to-head team races, showing crowds what this could be. The point of the documentary, they all emphasize, is to showcase Shafer’s story in a way that inspires people. Yes, they want to turn dragboarding into a sport, and Costello believes the film is the path.
“Once they see it, they’ll think, ‘People are actually doing this — and he’s doing it at 63 years old?’”
Despite the danger, despite the speed, despite the world records, Shafer is calm about the risks. Losing his father at 9 and his wife to cancer five years ago reframed everything.
“It doesn’t matter your age or lifestyle,” he said. “You can go at any second. You might as well be smiling, having a hell of a time while you’re here.”