THEY RIDE MOTORBIKES ON VERTICAL RACETRACKS, RISKING THEIR LIVES FOR JUST FIVE DOLLARS A SHOW. THE WALL-OF-DEATH HELLRIDERS ARE SAVING AMERICA’S OLDEST EXTREME SPORT—BY LIVING THEIR OWN RADICAL FORM OF FREEDOM: PART 1
With just an hour to go before the show is set to begin, hellrider Charlie Ransom sits in his dimly lit trailer, massaging a bluish swelling above his right ankle. It’s 10 a.m. in Fort Meade, Florida, a flat stretch of land about 50 miles east of Tampa. The distant clattering of engines comes drifting in through the open windows of Ransom’s trailer. His stunt show is making a guest appearance at a display of antique tractors here in the middle of nowhere.
In an hour’s time, Ransom will be straddling a 90-year-old Indian Scout and circling the vertical wall of a motordrome—a 14-foot-tall wooden drum measuring 30 feet across—while from above, 200 spectators will peer down as if they were checking a simmering saucepan.
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