Gadson Films American Chopper Episode

Text and photos by Matt Polito

Motorcycle drag racing superstar Rickey Gadson recently filmed an American Chopper episode at Englishtown Raceway Park.  The episode featured a project bike built for NAPA Auto Parts by Paul Teutul, his sons Paul, Jr. and Mikey and their company, Orange County Choppers.   While typical project bikes built for the show are street bikes, the NAPA bike was a true drag bike, featuring a Racing Innovations chassis by Sam Wills, a 10 inch Mickey Thompson slick, wheelie bar, PMFR components, RC Comp wheels and a 151 ci R&R V-twin.  Producers of the Discover Channel show allowed Drabike.com to shoot the project bike and the filming of the event but asked that no photos of the bike itself be posted until after the show’s initial June air date.

The original plan was to have one of the shop’s fabricators ride the bike.  Since non eof them had any drag racing experience, producers contracted Gadson and the Doug Foley Drag Racing School to teach the crew drag racing basics.  Gadson runs the motorcycle division of Foley’s school.

The Orange County Choppers staff members featured in the show included Vinnie DiMurtino, Rick Detko and Christian Welter.  Also in attendance were Mike “Brickhouse” and local fabricator and Orange County vendor Rod Romar and his crew.  On staff at Englishtown were manager and Pro Stock Motorcycle racer Eddie Krawiec and Del Flores who runs Del’s Performance in Paterson as well as the motorcycle shop at Raceway Park.

The Teutul’s, including Paul, Paul, Jr. and Mikey were also in attendance.

The assignment marked another high-profile appearance for Gadson who ended his seven year run as the Kawasaki flagship rider last season.  Gadson is running the entire NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle this season riding for Harry Lartigue and has just appeared on the cover of Cycle World magazine.  He also recently opened his sportbike speed shop, Rickey Gadson’s Speed Zone, near Philadelphia.

Gadson and Foley ran through their typical class structure for the four attendees, starting with classroom instruction and followed by motorcycle configuration and track walkthrough.

Exibition passes were performed by Gadson, his nephew Richard, Krawiec, Flores and the Romar crew.  Krawiec had the low e.t. of the session at 8.80 on Del’s Hayabusa while Flores himself run the high mph run of 162 mph.

The Orange County staff then had at the track riding Gadson’s bikes including his Kawasaki ZX-10R 1000 SuperSport, a GSXR1000 and a pair of Hayabusa’s.  After a few practice runs the staff made clean passes in the mid 10 second range.

The project bike was then unveiled for its shakedown run with Gadson on-board. The bike is hued in yellow and blue and looks like a sportsman AHDRA machine with, of course, some trick touches. Krawiec, Flores and Gadson helped make some last minute adjustments which included footpeg position, wheelie bar height, front fork adjustment and tire pressure.

The first lap on the bike was a little hairy.  The bike pulled to the right, had a sticky shifter and had a fuel delivery problem on the top end.  The bike ran a 1.38 60 foot time with an 11.18 elapsed time at 84 mph.

With time running out and the bike needing more adjustments, it was decided that only Gadson would ride the bike with the new goal being a 9 second run.

Krawiec, Flores, Gadson and Flores’ brother George helped the Orange County crew with the adjustments. The rear wheel was re-aligned, tire pressure changed and shifter inspected.  The fuel delivery problem was traced to glass etching beads contaminating the gas tank.  The tank was cleaned and re-fueled.

The second run was much better but ended with a bang.  Gadson ran a 1.28 60 foot with final numbers of 9.99 at 107 mph which was met with applause from the Orange County staff.  During the run a flock of seagulls was on the track and one didn’t get away in time, smacking Gadson in the helmet.  The impact killed the bird and gave Gadson a stinging headache.  The bike was spattered with bird guts.  That would be the last run for the bike for the day.

The Teutuls were helicoptered out of the facility as their staff stayed behind to make some grudge runs on the school bikes.  In the big final Christian got around Vinnie, who got the holeshot but messed up on the gear shift.  They all said they never had a better time filming the show.

Raceway Park is trying to book in the Teutul’s for their thrill show nights this season.  Look for the NAPA bike episodes to air on the Discovery Channel in mid-June.