Off the Wire
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By Rachel Mehlhaff / Staff Writer
The whole “Wall of Death” shook as Rhett “Rotten” Giordano began riding his 1927 Indian Scout motorcycle around and around the 30-foot-wide barrel-shaped stunt track set up at Rick Fairless’ Strokers Dallas.
Centripetal force worked in Giordano’s favor, allowing him to move to the top of the 12-foot-high wall where onlookers held out dollar bills for him to grab.
The 34-year-old recently relocated his motorcycle stunt show business, Rhett Rotten Wall of Death, from Florida to Sanger.
He has been making changes in his life since a recent accident left him with two broken ankles and a little bit of fear.
“What I do for a living is probably one of the most dangerous jobs in America,” he said.
Family atmosphere
Giordano said he grew up in tough places that lacked discipline. And since his mother died of cancer about 14 years ago, he doesn’t have much of a family, so the McDorman family has taken him in.
“I’ve never ever let anyone else ride my 1927 Indian Scout except that man right there,” Giordano said, pointing to Troy “Tex” McDorman, whose Sanger shop they were sitting in. “He’s taken off on it right down the road.”
After a pause, McDorman responded, “And I’ve never let anybody else come stay at my house.”
Giordano recently stayed with the McDorman family until he could get established in Sanger.
The family owns a motor sports graphics and pinstriping business called TEXEFX and a sign business called McDorman Signs and Advertising Inc.
The family atmosphere is what drew Giordano in.
McDorman met Giordano 13 years ago, McDorman said.
“There are so many people that meet him and want to be around him,” McDorman said, so the men didn’t really get to know each other until last year.
McDorman said he believes Giordano’s move will make him more centrally located when he is traveling to shows and will offer him access to supportive people.
“I wanted to give up. I didn’t want to race my racetrack anymore. And out here we don’t give up,” Giordano said. “The only way you lose is if you quit, and I’m not a quitter.”
He sees it as an opportunity to change.
Giordano said he has always been a rebellious person who doesn’t really listen to anybody, but something about McDorman makes him want to listen.
McDorman’s wife, Melissa McDorman, has helped set up Giordano’s Web sites, and his son, who identified himself as Critter McDorman, will help Giordano add a part to his show that has been missing for about five years.
He will be riding a go-kart in the stunt track alongside Giordano.
Kam Karting Supply in Rhome is preparing the go-kart, and then they will begin practicing.
Wall of Death
Giordano found his Wall of Death track for sale in Long Island, N.Y.
“I took it to my Nana’s house, and I assembled just enough of it that I could learn how to ride,” he said.
He bought the 1927 Indian Scout, the bike he rides on the track, in 1993, the year he graduated from high school.
He also rides a 1957 Harley-Davidson Hummer motorcycle in his shows.
He said it took him six months to learn to ride.
“It’s one thing to get in there and ride it,” he said. “It’s another thing to take it out and actually put on a full-blown motorcycle stunt show. Nobody wants to see somebody make a few circles and come down.”
He said that is a feat in itself, but to be unique and stand out, there had to be more.
So Giordano has taught himself how to do a dozen tricks while riding.
He changes positions on the motorcycle as it travels around the wall at speeds from 40 to 105 mph. He can ride with no hands on the handlebars and his feet hanging off to one side.
The accident
He can ride with his feet propped up on the handlebars and his arms spread out as though he’s balancing.
That is how he rode in early 2008 when his transmission locked up and he had one of the worst crashes of his career, he said.
It was the second of two serious crashes.
In the first one, he rolled the front tire off the wheel while he was riding, Giordano said, which could have been avoided with preventive maintenance.
In the second, he broke both ankles and it took nine months to recover.
“Basically, it goes with every motorcycle stunt man or racer out there — you’re going to crash and you’re going to get hurt. The bottom line is you’ve got to remember no matter how many times you fall, you’ll never, ever be a failure as long as you try to get back up,” he said, quoting Evel Knievel.
He said a crash breaks a person down mentally.
“I can deal with the physical pain,” Giordano said. “It’s mentally [that’s tough].”
He said the audience is never in any danger, because there is a safety cable that will shoot him “back down through the floor like a rubber band” so the motorcycle can’t fly out of the barrel-shaped stunt track.
He still has “the fire that won’t quit and desire to take this motorcycle stunt show to the next level,” he said.
He said he was living in “the rock star world” and at one time thought he was invincible, but the latest accident taught him to be humble.
Support
Not only is he receiving support from the McDormans, but he also credits a lot of other people for where he is now.
He said that the “support level to keep going is phenomenal.”
Legendary Custom Woodwork and Cabinetry in Sanger is going to build a replica of the 1941 racetrack to leave at Strokers, so he won’t have to unload his track while he isn’t on the road.
He said L.O. Transport in Paradise helped him haul his track to Dallas.
Tex McDorman said that those businesses are run by people who’ve taken time out of their schedules to see good in a person and to help him out — not asking for anything in return.
Giordano agreed.
“They are people that have literally taken time out of their lives to help me keep the era of old board-track racing alive,” he said.
On the road
As Giordano finished his show at Strokers, he took time to remind the children watching that riding is his job and their job is to stay in school and try their best.
He said he is getting his show back to where it was before the accident and will be taking it back on the road from late March until October.
He will be setting up at motorcycle rallies and motocross events across the country — wherever speed demons and adrenaline junkies gather.
Whenever possible, he also will ride at Strokers on weekends.
“I’m coming back stronger than ever with the support of my friends around here,” Giordano said.
RACHEL MEHLHAFF can be reached at 940-566-6897. Her e-mail is rmehlhaff@dentonrc.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
