Bird Dog
Most people think we’re perfect. We get it, most of the things we do come out smelling like roses. We’re pretty awesome and modest at the same time, especially yours truly. But unbeknownst to most, Bird Dog ain’t perfect. In fact, I missed three questions on my SAT, so there’s that.
In our recently released “Top 10 Coolest Riders of All Time” piece we failed to include Damon Bradshaw, the Beast from the Damn East. Shame on us and on myself in particular for disappointing our millions, errr, billions of readers. While Bradshaw should have been a shoe in for the top 10, he’s likely more of a top five guy.
So while this was a complete oversight, I went and saw my therapist to discuss why I left him off the list. And guess what, that $200/hr. finally paid off. We had to dig deep into my subconscious to uncover the reason for my hidden animosity, but by darn we did it.
In 1980-something my brothers and I ruled a track called Lake Secession in the podunk hills of South Carolina. They actually had a national there which is where I got to meet Jeff Ward at a local Motel 8, but I’ll save that story for another time.
Photo: Momma Bird Dog
So here we were, just little doggies racing on the weekends and pulling tons of chicks. My older brother was in the 125cc class at the time and Damon Bradshaw decided to make the trip south for a local race. This was obviously before the internet so we had no clue who Damon Bradshaw was. We only knew that he had two motorcycles, one for practice and one to race. I can’t tell you the impact that had on us as little kids. We’d never seen anything of the sort. So, of course, we immediately hated him.
And it wasn’t long before our hatred grew. As Bradshaw came off his first supermini moto (where he lapped the entire field) he lined his 80cc up in the 125cc class against my brother. And guess what happened? Yep, he lapped my brother like he was standing still. Made him look like a bitch in front of his family and the entire town.
But the story doesn’t end there. Oh no, not by a long shot.
Bird Dog can’t attest to the rest of the story because I was probably taking a nap or something (I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time) but apparently Bradshaw came by our pit and threw some roost down to show his dominance. My bro then took a wrench from the back on my dad’s Chrysler 5th Avenue and threw it at him, striking him in the helmet. It’s a story that has lived in infamy throughout my family since that day.
And while I’ve always been a HUGE fan of Bradshaw, after hundreds of dollars spent with my therapist, it appears that I was still holding a grudge against him. I’ve since released my anger and would like to formally apologize to The Best for not including him on our initial list. You’ll always be Top 10 in my heart, Damon. And I’m sure you can now rest easy knowing you made this list, perhaps the most notable accomplishment of your illustrious career.
