The Historic Motorcycle Stunt Show
My first experience with the American Motor Drome Co. Wall of Death was at the Barber Vintage Festival in 2004. I was amazed by this legendary thrill show and have attended each year since, for the last 15 years now. Motor drome motorcycle stunt shows have a rich history in American motorcycling culture, and are a very unique subculture unto themselves.
Hazel Watkins (2nd from right), one of the original “Mile A Minute Girls” to ride an Indian motorcycle in Ira Watkins’ (far right) carnival motor drome, the “Watkin’s Wall of Death”. Photo taken around 1912, photog unknown.
Motor drome motorcycle stunt riding dates back over 100 years, to the 1910s. First started on the old traveling carnival and county fair midways across America, motor drome shows nearly always featured Harley-Davidson, Indian, and/or other stateside brands as the motorcycles used in the stunt riding, along with hand-built carts and other 4-wheeled, gas-powered contraptions. Today, several family-owned shows still traverse America, wowing crowds with their gravity-defying and death-defying thrill shows. The American Motor Drome Company is among the most noteworthy.
One of Mike’s antique Harley-Davidson Sprints outside the Wall of Death at Barber Vintage Fest 2024. They wouldn’t let him take it inside.
The stunt show takes place within a silo or barrel-shaped wooden cylinder, typically ranging between 20-36 feet in diameter. Traditionally made of wooden planking, the stunt riders throttle around the inner cylinder’s vertical walls, held aloft by friction, speed and centrifugal force. Derived from American board track racing in the early 1900s, the first “velodromes” became more widely known as “Wall of Death” by the time Hazel Eaton (pictured earlier) began riding for Ira Watkins’ carnival shows in 1912.
A friend of mine named Andrew, who I met at the festival a few years ago, has been helping assemble the American Motor Drome’s Wall of Death for years. He contacted me and asked if I wanted to come over to see the assembly and meet the crew. I jumped at the chance. So I got up early and made it over to the Barber Motorsports Park just after sunrise. The floor was being laid out by the time I arrived. There were 6 helpers that had responded to requests made via social media and other means to assist in the assembly of the motor drome. The helpers are volunteers, for which they receive free admission to the park. Even with all the hard work of everyone involved, it took all day to erect the drome under the direction of the American Motor Drome’s “Hobo Bill”.
A few shots of the assembly process.
Later on, after the drome was mostly assembled, I had an opportunity to sit down and visit with Hobo Bill. He told me, “This American Motor Drome was built in 1998 by Jay Lightnin’ (real name is John Bentley). Our drome is 14 feet tall and 30 feet in diameter, the largest motor drome in the USA.” Jay, a Sturgis Hall of Fame member, no longer tours with the show having retired at the age of 71. His 1928 Indian Scout which he rode for over 50 years is still featured however, ridden by Hobo Bill. Interestingly, most early motor dromes ran Indian Scouts, from what we’ve learned.
Warming up the Vintage Fest crowds for the next show.
Hobo Bill holds an AMA Vintage National Series Championship Belt which he earned on his 1950 H-D Panhead. In 2016 he joined the American Motor Drome Co. and now runs the show. Joining him in the show are two other riders. Ariell Flight, the female rider, rides a 1975 Harley SX 175 and JR Sparks, the junior rider, rides an electric bicycle, a hand built go-cart, and the SX 175. Also touring with the show is Wesley (last name not known), the ambassador or as he likes to call himself, the “eye candy”.
Fans crowd in to stand along the observation platform around the top of the motor drome. They take in all of the exciting action of the motorcycles swirling past. As the riders circle faster and higher up the walls of the motor drome, spectators wave dollar bills for the riders to grab as if reaching for the golden ring on a merry-go-round. The money collected from the crowd is set aside for the medical needs of the riders. Each show is free to the public, the American Motor Drome Company being paid by whatever venue they are asked to entertain.
Hobo Bill coming for a bill.
The Motor Drome crew is a close-knit group who enjoy the free if not that easy life of a “carny”. They do somewhere around 17 to 20 shows a year. Their time off is spent with upkeep, repairing and maintenance of the drome and motorcycles- enjoying their own unique version of the motorcycling good life.
Hobo Bill rides past on the old Indian Scout with the exhaust popping as he lets off the throttle. With the weaving of the bike from the bottom to the top of the red line, it’s quite a thrill having the riders roar past right in your face. The American Motor Drome Co. Wall of Death team carries on a century-old tradition of pure American thrill riding, that must be viewed live to be fully appreciated. The v-twin rumble, the rubber and spent fuel smells, the breeze as bikes travel by the top the drome so close to fans, as well as the old vintage bikes and drome itself, is American motorcycling culture at its best.
Mike Boyd
For more on the American Motor Company and their traveling Wall of Death shows, click here:
*Top photo: Hobo Bill circling the Motor Drome during a show this past summer. Photo by American Motor Drome Co.
good job mike,. your old friend in lake charles,la.