FRAZIER PARK YOUTH REELS IN ACCLAIM WITH YO-YO.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

At 16, Jason Tracy could be expected to excel at Nintendo or computer games, the toys of choice for kids his age.

Instead, he has become a whiz at a retro toy, one that has been around for 70 years - but seems to have been rediscovered by a new generation.

And he can use it to ``sleep,'' ``walk the dog,'' ``rock the cradle'' and go ``around the world,'' along with more advanced tricks like ``double or nothing,'' ``shoot the moon,'' ``split the atom,'' ``triple trapeze,'' ``warp drive,'' ``creeper,'' and ``three-leaf clover.''

Tracy wouldn't be insulted if you called him a yo-yo - perhaps because he owns hundreds of them.

Earlier this month, Tracy came in first in the one-handed tricks division of a yo-yo competition at Robert Morris College in Coraopolis, Pa. The contest attracted the most skilled yo-yo enthusiasts from the United States and several foreign countries.

Today, Tracy will appear at the Valencia Town Center to perform tricks and to give lessons. The event will begin at 1:30 p.m. at The Kite Ranch, on the mall's upper level. For information, call [phone].

Although billed as the world yo-yo championships, the Coraopolis event wasn't sanctioned by the American Yo-Yo Association, said John Stangle, president of the 325-member organization, founded in 1993.

However, the country's leading manufacturers of yo-yos and the hobby's leading publication, Yo-Yo Times, recognize the annual event as a gathering of the best players.

Tracy, who begins his junior year Thursday at Frazier Mountain High School, competed in the event for a third straight year and has steadily improved. In previous contests in Las Vegas and Rapid City, S.D., Tracy came in second in a lower skill-level bracket and second in his current division.

The only place to go from here is the elite pro-am championship bracket.

``That's the two-handed division, with all the fancy tricks,'' Tracy said. ``The two-handed tricks are compulsory (for the pro-am competitors), whereas in my division the two-handed tricks are used as a tiebreaker,'' he said.

In fact, that was the scenario in Pennsylvania, where Tracy earned top scores for the 10 compulsory tricks he performed for the judges.

``I tied with the Japan champion in this contest, and we had to go to a tiebreaker because we both had perfect scores,'' he said.

Besides competing, the teen-ager has found a way to earn money with his skill. Tracy works as a factory representative for Terminator Yo-Yos, and in that role he visits toys stores and sells them the products wholesale. He said a career in the yo-yo business is a feasible notion.

``You can certainly make a living at it,'' he said. ``I do trade shows and stuff like that.''

Tracy often demonstrates yo-yo tricks at product fairs geared to the toy industry. ``I'll do it whenever it pays good enough that I can miss school,'' he said.

Tracy remembers getting his first yo-yo about five years ago, to keep him occupied during a ``boring'' school vacation. ``It got retired at the end of the summer because I had no more use for it,'' he said. ``Then I found it when I was cleaning out my closet.''

Evidence of a burgeoning trend in the toy industry could be last year's release from the granddaddy of the yo-yo manufacturers, Duncan Yo-Yos. The brand, now manufactured by Ohio-based Flambeau Plastics, came out with its ``first wooden yo-yo since the 1950s,'' Stangle said.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1--color) Accomplished yo-yo competitor Jason Tracy, 16, of Frazier Park ``rocks the baby.''

(2) Jason Tracy said he first picked up a yo-yo to pass the time during a ``boring'' vacation. Tracy recently took first place in the one-handed tricks division of a yo-yo competition at Robert Morris College in Coraopolis, Pa. A career in the yo-yo marketing business is not out of the question, Tracy said about his future.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News