Dell Schanze
The Salt Lake Tribune reported that his canopy collapsed when he was about 75 feet (23 m) above the ground, but he was able to save himself by deploying an emergency backup chute. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, Schanze has made a name for himself by pushing the envelope professionally and personally with highly opinionated radio and television advertising campaigns in Salt Lake City pushing his businesses as well as his personal viewpoints.While the computer store was in business, Schanze posted his radio commercials on his web site in MP3 format. Television news cameras captured the image of Schanze being taken away on a stretcher.
The article characterized his flying skills with only ten months of experience at the time as excellent but questioned his judgment in deciding to fly alone in winds up to 32 mph (51 km/h) at the time. He is known for his zany, unrehearsed and often controversial commercial advertisements as well as conflicts with local residents and law enforcement.
The story, along with the final broadcast news segment, which was edited to fit within an appropriate time constraint. . He was later forced by Dell Computers to discontinue using the name SUPERDELL when promoting Totally Awesome Computers. After dropping out of the race for Salt Lake County Mayor as a Republican, Schanze ran for Governor of the state of Utah in 2008 on the Libertarian ticket, garnering less than 3-percent of the vote.
In the Salt Lake City area, the sport is firmly associated with Schanze due to the local media s broadcast of multiple appearances in the news involving Schanze s paragliding activities. In June 2003, Schanze executed an emergency landing of his powered paraglider in an open field in Magna, Utah. Schanze lost, having only received 3-percent of the vote.
Dell Buck Schanze (born in Ithaca, NY on September 27 1969) is a controversial Utah business entrepreneur, who relocated to Salt Lake City with his mother at age 12 when his parents divorced. Schanze later appeared on the Bob Lonsberry Show, a morning radio program on AM 570, KNRS, Salt Lake City, and explained his side of the events. In 2007 Schanze founded the World Powered Skydiving Association, Schanze frequently claims that he is portrayed in a sensationalistic and biased manner by the news media, and points out what he refers to as the evil lies of the news media . To address Schanze s claims that the media has treated him unfairly, a reporter from the TV station KSL-TV offered to do a story on Schanze that attempts to portray him favorably.
Though the MP3 files do not appear to be present in the archive of his Web site, some notable exceptions are audio files of a radio commercials in which Schanze criticizes the local Better Business Bureau and calls homosexuals faggots . In his 2008 run for Governor of Utah on the Libertarian ticket, Schanze recorded an auto-dial phone message that his supporters used to reach 2,500 voters a day which called Utah s current governor, Jon Huntsman Jr. Schanze testified at the time that conditions were considerably calmer when he took off, and grew worse while he was in the air.
an anti-Christ socialist and states that his Democrat opponent Bob Springmeyer doesn t care about the constitution. Schanze later recorded a toned down version of the ad. He is a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights and has stated that he has a permit to carry a concealed firearm, which he allowed to expire in early 2009. Dell Schanze was the founder of Totally Awesome Computers, which at its peak operated nine stores along the Wasatch Front in Utah.
Some of the people and companies his ads commented upon include Micron Technology, Gateway, Inc., Bill Gates, the Better Business Bureau, the mayor of Provo, Utah, the Shiffer Indians (a fictional Native American Indian tribe), homosexuals, and a Salt Lake City dentist who threatened suit against Schanze alleging defamation. His moniker SUPERDELL (written as one word in capital letters) and his business became household names in Utah in the late 1990s.
Schanze is noted for his hobby of powered paragliding, which is a form of ultralight aviation where the pilot wears a small motor on his back, and runs into the air with lift from a paraglider wing. He now plans to run for mayor of Saratoga Springs, Utah. Dell Schanze founded Totally Awesome Computers (TAC) in 1996, which closed its doors in 2006 as failing finances, a series of news reports regarding Schanze s clashes with the law and two discrimination/harassment lawsuits brought by former employees combined to create a perfect storm for the off-beat pitchman. Schanze also co-owned Totally Awesome Guns and Range, an indoor shooting range and gun store; as well as a distributorship of powered paraglider products (Totally Awesome Flying Sports), which is now owned and operated by Bill Heaner. Dell Schanze has made attention-grabbing and often critical remarks about competitors, local government officials, and other people in his ads.
