THEME PARKS STILL THRILL ATTRACTION SERVICES BOSS.

Byline: Victoria Giraud People and Places

In some ways, Ron Griffin never has to grow up; he's like the kid who gets to stay in the amusement park when everyone else has to go home.

As president of Attraction Services in Valencia - 50,000 square feet of shop that ``can build anything you want'' - Griffin directs a fast-growing company that ``creates designs, fabricates and installs theme-park attraction equipment, anything that moves,'' along with any ``fire, fog, smoke or rain'' that's needed.

``Theme-park attractions are my life. Even though I work very hard, I'm very privileged to be involved in great stuff,'' he said. ``I go all over the country and see the public pay and enjoy what we build. I'm fully entertained by the business we do.''

Ready to open at the California Science Center in Los Angeles' Exposition Park is ``Tess,'' a 50-foot-tall, animated, transparent woman. As part of an informational presentation, ``she will educate people on how the body functions and how (it) reacts to exercise,'' Griffin said.

With her chest open, viewers can see her heart pumping and her lungs inflating and deflating. One of her arms and one of her legs move, and her face is fully animated.

Tess - a nickname that came from a crash-test dummy - was originally carved from foam, with Fiberglas then placed over it. She has a steel structure inside and was made to come apart in sections so she could be transported to her home at the center.

Griffin's road to theme parks started with automobiles. Growing up in Granada Hills with a father who owned an automotive shop, he remembers being ``involved in cars from when I was a little kid.''

At 16, he was working in the pit for the Ford off-road racing team for the Mexico 1,000 race. For about eight years competing in Class 44, small dune buggies with a roll cage, he ``raced constantly every weekend. I was probably the one to beat in the U.S.''

Griffin's interest in manufacturing and altering vehicles turned into a business, and he opened Pro ATV in the San Fernando Valley in the 1970s. He was so successful at turning a Honda Odyssey into a high-performance race car that he says the Japanese company borrowed his design.

``I sold it (Pro ATV) when the government came down on three-wheel vehicles, and did vehicles for the movie industry,'' Griffin said.

Creating mechanical special effects, he worked on such films as ``FX2'' and ``Alien Nation,'' as well as many of the Energizer bunny commercials.

His current business arose from consulting and design work he did creating a computer-driven military vehicle. The driverless vehicle patrols military bases looking for intruders and other problems. The Maryland company he worked with partnered with him to create Attraction Services.

Slightly apologetic despite the success of a company that has grown in two years from four employees to 127, Griffin says: ``I'm not a degreed engineer. I just always designed and built things.''

The work keeps coming. Singer Michael Jackson ordered a full-size but far lighter (2,500 pounds) Army battle tank for his world tour. It was built in just 21 days. They've done a full-size locomotive for Six Flags Chicago and been involved in the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios.

The company designed and built five vertical reality rides for the Gameworks facility; the closest one is at the Ontario Mills mall. The ride is actually a ``virtual cop game'' that's become a ride. There are 12 seats to enable three groups of four people to play each other.

``You shoot at the bad guys on the screen,'' Griffin said. ``If you shoot enough guys, the seat moves up to the next level.'' The winners get to the top level, 24 feet up.

Currently, he's working on a ride based on the movie ``Twister'' for Universal's Islands of Adventure Florida studio, due to open this spring, and is also doing some projects for Disney.

Griffin's children - Sean, 13; Catherine, 11; and Kyle, 9 - ``get to go to a lot of grand openings, and consider themselves lucky.'' Sean was fortunate enough to be the first kid on the vertical reality ride.

Remembering his childhood, Griffin noted about raising a family: ``Things are different now. When I was a kid, building things was important. Nowadays it's a computer and sitting on your butt. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.''

His immediate goal is ``to make Attraction Services one of the most successful companies in the industry.'' And at 44, he doesn't plan on starting any new businesses: ``This is the last thing I want to do.''