I'll give you a basic run down on their four bikes.
They all have one thing in common, i'll get to that later.
1. Shaun from Suicide Machine's bike.
How the hell did we end up in a HD commercial??
Probably one of wildest things I've ended up doing. From what I was told someone at HD was looking for a group of wild idiots with a death sentence to rip Harleys til the wheels fall off. This person at HD reached out to our awesome friend Brawny from Speed merchant and asked if he could get a group of guys that could star in a commercial for HDs new campaign called #RollYourOwn. Like I talked in the last email blast there was a few brands that were HEAVY into hooligan at the time. Speed merchant, SMCO & Rusty Butcher. So Brawney called us all up and we got linked into this wild commercial. I was originally approached to have 2 segments in the commercial which were flat track & they wanted a "jump".
This was my first time doing anything like this. We had to do wardrobe days and even plan out some spots to shoot. HD landed on Glen Helen Raceway for the jump & Perris auto speedway for the Flattrack scene. They really never told me anything about the jump. The day I was supposed to hit it and film this whole scene I just showed up to the track and all these film rigs and people were around this BIG ass about 80ft table top. At the time I was probably at the top of my game but never hit anything that big. So naturally I was a bit nervous.
I guess I should mention the weather was shit. It literally was off and on raining and I started hitting this big ass jump in the rain. First jump went awesome and I felt great so I hit this thing about a dozen times before I noticed we had some issues. My fork tube split in half on the right side and cracked longways. haha I ended up swapping tubes with my other Flattrack bike and got the damn job done! I'll never forget how gnarly it was jumping that tabletop in the rain and even my fork tube cracking in half.
Next scene was Perris Raceway with the Flattrack scene! This was easy. 4 of us ripping around a track with a rhino in front of us filming all the "action". This was a bit easier and went smoothly. I want to dive into this commercial because this was a pivotal time in Hooligan racing. It was getting popular and each race was getting bigger and now we have the factory actually working with hooligan racers. Little did we know this commercial would be played for about almost a year straight. Every UFC fight and more had this thing blasted across it with us in it and cool enough they put our instagram handles on the damn commercial!! Instantly we all blew up and so did hooligan racing.
One day I got a call from my buddy Doug who happens to co-own Heatwave Visual sunglasses. He told me he had this idea for us to race Harleys off-road at this race called the Mint 400. I didn't really know too much on this race at the time let alone have ANY off-road desert racing experience so as usual I agreed to built a bike and race this sucker! haha Mikey Virus, Barry nobles, Doug & myself took on this stupid idea to try to race this gnarly off-road race. At the time this was the first year the Mint 400 has had motorcycles in years so it was a special one to attend. We all built bikes of what we "thought" was a good idea and things we needed. Boy were we wrong about so much.
We lined up and the first mile my bags that I had stuffed with EVERYTHING to rebuild everything for some reason (apparently thought I would be out there rebuilding my entire bike?) were so heavy they broke my fender off and ripped out some wiring I had. Once I figured this out I was battling wiring gremlins the entire race. I only finished one lap this year which at the time was a 80 mile loop and the longest I've ever ridden a harley off-road at one time.
Barry came home with the win after Mikey took a gnarly digger that year and dragged his corpse in for 2nd. I remember Mikey showing up looking like Jason from halloween and his headlight busted off and hanging from the bike. haha
This year I wanted to dive deeper into our craft of leather making. I have always made simple and durable belts with nothing other than a small logo stamp, classic but a little simple for me. I learned recently about "roll stamping" belts and found some machinery that would do so! These machines take a solid brass stamp that is machined out with the logo you desire and with pressure applied make amazing full roll stamp belts. We have purchased a few "stock" designs and I decided that wasn't enough and searched out a manufacture to make custom designs for us! I have added 3 custom designs to the roster and they look amazing!! Barbwire, chains & checkers are available for purchase on our awesome belts. Did I mention these suckers come with a lifetime warranty?
Above is a photo of the last race at Del Mar for us. Tensions were high a few years deep into the hooligan movement as everyone wanted to show their skills and win. This was the main event and my front wheel got taken out and it started a 6-7 bike pile up. The race was called after this since so many of us got hurt. haha I think I walked away with a fractured wrist after get slammed like a rag doll and ran over. This I believe was the end of that race series but didn't slow down the Hooligan movement but was only the start.
I will keep updating these Hooligan History emails more and more to give you all an insight on how this whole thing started.
Link to the race that Harley Davidson broadcasted LIVE! Skip to about 35 minutes in to see the Hooligan Main.
https://www.facebook.com/harley-davidson/videos/10154026002465765/
Want to say thank you to:
Mark Atkins
A.K.A. "The Butcher"
#22
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Link to the race that Harley Davidson broadcasted LIVE! Skip to about 35 minutes in to see the Hooligan Main.
https://www.facebook.com/harley-davidson/videos/10154026002465765/
Want to say thank you to:
Mark Atkins
A.K.A. "The Butcher"
#22
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Photos By @JonathanGriffith
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Photos By @JonathanGriffith
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-Mark "The Butcher"
Here is the bike as I bought it!
Here is the "updated" version. getting close but now near done!
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-Mark "The Butcher"
Here is the bike as I bought it!
Here is the "updated" version. getting close but now near done!
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Rusty Butcher is proud to be making Leather Backpacks. We have pre ordered the first 2 runs and sold out within the first day of listing! Be sure to check back for more styles coming soon.
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Rusty Butcher is proud to be making Leather Backpacks. We have pre ordered the first 2 runs and sold out within the first day of listing! Be sure to check back for more styles coming soon.
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-Rusty
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