U.S. Luge Team Conducts Tests For Winter Olympics In San Diego

By Dwane Brown / KPBS Evening Edition Anchor/Reporter

Published August 20, 2013 at 7:24 AM PDT

This story was published more than 10 years ago.

To prepare for the Winter Games, a luge world champion comes to San Diego to practice in a local wind tunnel facility.

Preparing for the 2014 Winter Olympics, U.S. luge world champion Erin Hamlin came to San Diego to perform tests at the low-speed wind tunnel facility on Pacific Highway.

At the Winter Games, less than a second can determine the winner or loser.

Team coach Mark Grimette said it's like the Indy 500 on ice.

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"Luge for a World Cup race is timed to— a tune is 50 to 60 seconds and the track is a mile long," Grimette said. "And the race can come down to one-thousandth of a second."

The U.S. luge team has been using the wind tunnel facility since the 1990s. Team members come once a year to refine their positioning and suits for the Winter Games.

The facility has been around 65 years and is owned by the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

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Dwane Brown

Brown started his career with KPBS in the early '90s as a radio anchor and reporter before expanding his broadcast news experience at CBS radio and television in New York. He’s been a news director, anchor, reporter and correspondent in San Francisco and has worked as a writer, producer, assignment editor and talk show host. He returned to KPBS in 2005. As the former anchor for KPBS Evening Edition, Brown provided an in-depth look at issues and stories relevant to San Diego. He spent nearly seven years as anchor/host of Morning Edition on KPBS Radio. Between 2006 and 2010, the San Diego Press Club named Brown "Best Morning Newscaster" in San Diego Radio. In 2006, the Society of Professional Journalists also named him "Best Morning Newscaster." During that time he managed and taught a two-week high school boot camp for aspiring radio reporters at KPBS in conjunction with the California Chicano News Media Association. Brown studied English/Journalism at San Diego State University and is a Fast Trac graduate from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He’s a popular public speaker and Toastmaster International member. He’s been master of ceremonies for the American Red Cross, VA Medical Center San Diego, Urban League, San Diego Office of Emergency Services and numerous foundations. Brown is also a voice actor for movie, documentary, television, radio and Internet projects.

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