| Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
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The tightly packed T-shirt shot out of the cannon above the crowd of folks, many wearing black muscle shirts, do-rags and leather vests, only to begin a merciless descent toward Denice Plessas.
She swayed with the crowd as the T-shirt missile danced in the wind and began to fall on a trajectory directly toward Plessas' hands clutching two full cups of Bud Light.
Plessas froze in indecision as the T-shirt cylinder slammed into the first cup, spraying her face and splashing brew onto everyone pressing close for a chance at the shirt. The T-shirt fell to Plessas' feet, and she dropped the second beer in a frantic effort to grab the T-shirt as other crowd members reached their hands into the foam.
Plessas, 52, emerged from the scrum without the prize and beer-less. But she wasn't defeated.
"This was awesome," said Plessas, a 30-year motorcycle enthusiast who came to Spokane from Casa Grande, Ariz., to watch the Orange County Choppers in America 2006 Tour. "It's more than I expected, except for the loss of my beers."
The motorcycle builders – Paul Sr., Paulie and Mikey Teutul – started the day by leading a charity ride from Northern Quest Casino to the Spokane County Fair and Expo Center. Bikers paid $100 for the ride, and half the proceeds went to the Boys & Girls Club of Spokane County. Another full day of events will continue today.
Thousands of fans milled through displays of motorcycle gear and lined up to look at some of the most famous OCC creations, such as the Fire Engine bike and the POW bike. Dozens of people paused with cameras to revere the custom-made motorcycles as if they were snapping photos of stars at the Academy Awards.
In the afternoon session, Paulie and Mikey answered questions as a computer generated designs of their next motorcycle, the Gonzaga Bike, in honor of Gonzaga University.
"It's been interesting because we come from a very humble background," Paulie said. "We are from a very small town in upstate New York. … It does get kind of crazy sometimes."
"But we get to do a lot of cool things, and look at the fans we have," Paulie said to cheers.
One person in the crowd asked the brothers about how they settle on a design. Mikey, who provided the comic relief, told the story about the bike they built for singer Billy Joel.
"Billy Joel specified that he didn't want anything to do with piano keys," Mikey said. "So we built him a bike with piano keys all over it. And sure enough, he hated it."
Another man asked them if they ever have customers who were dissatisfied no matter what they did.
"Probably Billy Joel," Mikey said to laughs. "That was it."
Paulie added: "Our main goal when we are building these bikes is to outdo the expectations of the customer. Sometimes you get more creative types, and you have a difference of an opinion. That's just the way it is."
A woman asked them how many doors Paul Sr. has crushed during his famous tirades on the show.
"There is a lot of pressure around the shop, a lot of deadlines," Paulie said. "Quite often, that's how we blow off steam. We just smash things, burn things and blow 'em up. That's the way we do it."
The crowd cheered to loud music as the brothers then threw Frisbees and shirts.
Dave Williams, 34, of Spokane, brought his wife, Michelle, and 4-month-old daughter, Ciearra.
"I thought it was really awesome. I was really impressed about how cool they were with the crowd," he said.
The Williams' family friend, 8-year-old Austin Avery of Mead, got the distinction of offering Gonzaga as the idea for the bike, and he was invited on stage with the Teutuls.
"I didn't want to go at first. I was scared," Austin said with wide eyes. "Now I want to go back on stage."
Williams added: "It's a once-in-a-lifetime event for this area to show appreciation for bike lovers."
