Fast Lane Leads Bollea To Tragedy

By KEITH MORELLI And STEPHEN THOMPSON The Tampa Tribune

Published: Aug 28, 2007

TAMPA - Nick Bollea, the teenage son of wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan, loves cars, especially fast cars. Two years ago, when he was just 14, his mom bought him a car to work on. The license plate was COEHSP.

"Capable of eluding high-speed pursuit," the grinning youth told a reporter at the time.

Today, Bollea is keeping vigil for friend John Graziano, a Marine just back from Iraq, who was seriously injured when Bollea drove them into a tree in Clearwater on Sunday night, police said. Bollea also is awaiting the results of the investigation into the wreck, which police say involved excessive speed.

"Nick is currently at the hospital with John and his family," his mother, Linda Hogan, said in a statement Monday. "His sole concern is for the well-being of his friend."

Speaking from Staten Island on Monday, as she looked for a flight to Tampa, Graziano's grandmother Catherine said the prognosis didn't look good.

"To come home from Iraq and for this to happen," she said.

Her 22-year-old grandson may have brain damage, she said. That's what she was able to learn in an emotional conversation with the Marine's father, her son, who lives in Dunedin.

The Toyota Supra "inexplicably" left Court Street on Sunday at 8 p.m. and struck a tree in the median, destroying the car on impact, Clearwater police spokesman Wayne Shelor said. Both of the car's occupants had to be extricated.

"Everything that happened last night was because of excessive speed," Shelor said this morning. "When the car hit, it largely exploded or disintegrated."

There was no immediate evidence Bollea was street racing or drifting, police said, and no charges had been filed.

Graziano, whose local address is 1225 Curlew Road in Dunedin, was in the front passenger seat at the time of the crash. Graziano is in critical condition at Bayfront Medical Center.

Bollea, 17, was treated and released, his mother said.

Wrestler's Son Dreams Of Professional Racing

Like a lot of teenage boys, Nicholas Bollea, also known as Nick Hogan, has aspirations of becoming a racecar driver.

In fact, he is an accomplished "drift" driver who is certified to give demonstrations at weekend events in which amateur drift drivers compete on tight tracks by swerving sideways around corners, tires spinning and dust flying, according to a race organizer.

Through Web pages, including Bollea's MySpace page and family Web sites, his personality emerged Monday; despite his high profile life, he's a typical teenager with a penchant for popular music and fast cars.

On his MySpace page, the teen said he enjoys working on cars and hanging out with his friends. He likes to wrestle, although he doubts he will follow his father into a professional career. He listens to Eminem and P. Diddy and, of course, his sister, Brooke, who recently released her first pop CD. His favorite movies are "Rocky" and "Big Daddy," and his favorite show is his own, "Hogan Knows Best."

Under occupation, he wrote, "Actor?" He said he would like to someday be a racecar driver but is also considering film school at the University of California at Los Angeles.

The reality show on VH1 airs Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. The schedule said today's episode deals with Bollea's girlfriend when he was 14 and the family's disapproval of her. It was unclear Monday whether Sunday's wreck would alter the schedule.

The show began following the family in 2005, when Bollea was just 14. One of the first episodes showed him replacing a tailpipe in a souped-up Supra with the COEHSP license tag, The Tampa Tribune reported in April 2005.

Clearwater police were unable to immediately determine the year of the car and couldn't say whether it was the same Supra Bollea was working on in that episode of "Hogan Knows Best."

Nick Bollea, who is home schooled, as is his sister, plays a big part in the reality show, which depicts the family's dealings with day-to-day life amid the color of celebrity. Episodes center on the fame of the wrestling patriarch, whose real name is Terry Bollea, and his daughter, Brooke, the budding pop singer.

Nick Bollea seemed largely untouched by his famous relatives and was pursuing his own dreams, including cars. They were born and have lived much of their lives in the Tampa Bay area.

Teen Has Racked Up 3 Tickets In 2 Years

The teen got his license two years ago and has had three speeding tickets since. The most recent was in Osceola County in April, where he was found guilty of unlawful speed. On the two previous citations, one in Collier County last year and one in Dade County in February, judgment was withheld.

Chris Tyler, who organizes drift races, said Bollea was at an event in DeSoto County on Friday night and did demonstrations between races. He has twice showed up at drift races, Tyler said.

In a telephone interview on Monday, Tyler said Bollea has sponsors and races a Nissan 350Z, but he wasn't racing Friday night.

"He was doing demonstrations," showing the amateur drivers, mostly teenagers in their own cars, how it's done, Tyler said. "He's been around and doing this for a couple of years.

"He's just there for the fun of it," said Tyler, who works for XAT Racing, a Tampa business that modifies engines and suspensions of high performance cars. "He does it for the love of the sport."

Sunday's accident was Bollea's second in as many years involving a sports car.

The Miami Herald reported that Bollea was driving a 2001 Lamborghini Diablo VT in September along a residential street in South Florida when the car caught fire. He got out before it burst into flames, reports said.

Word of Sunday night's accident spread quickly among fans of his family. By Monday afternoon, on the "Hogan Knows Best" Web site's message board, dozens of messages were posted wishing Bollea well and offering prayers for the family and for Graziano.

"In person," Tyler said, "he's a really good kid."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.