(Excuse the lack of a letter from the editor in this issue. Just before press time we were contacted by Mondo Porras of Denver’s Choppers who wanted to tell his story about his Biker Build Off contest with Indian Larry. Since one of the major hurtful rumors generated after Larry’s death was completely destroyed by Mondo, I thought I should run this interview immediately. -ed)

Mark Barnett: Mondo, thanks for sitting down with us to tell us about your Biker Build Off experience. Can you start by telling us a little about yourself and your shop?

Mondo: Denver’s Choppers was started in 1967. Denver was my best friend. We grew up together building hot rods and then we decided to get into motorcycles. We bought a couple of Harleys and started customizing them. Back then you couldn’t pick up a catalog and order custom parts. We started building springer front ends and stretching frames at our location in San Bernadino. We got into the magazines, we were the “go to” guys to get a frame or a rolling chassis back then. It really took off, we had about thirty guys working with us.

MB: When did you move to Las Vegas?

Mondo: Denver was killed in a boat racing accident in 1992. He had told me before that if anything ever happened to him, he wanted me to keep the shop going. I began building new parts and other products and moved the shop to Las Vegas about nine years ago.

MB: How did you get involved with the Biker Build Off series?

Mondo: We had a quiet period where things kind of died off and we were out of the news for a while, but the last few years things started taking off again. The Discovery Channel® called and asked if I wanted to do a Biker Build Off. I said yes and they asked who I would most want to be put up against. I said I’d like to go up against Indian Larry. When they called Larry to see if he wanted to do a third show, he said he would like to go up against me, two old school guys. Indian Larry used to buy parts from us at the old Denver’s Chopper shop. So I thought it would be great. I had never met him in person until Motorcycle Mania II, when he and Jesse James stopped in at my store. We hit it off right off the bat. Later, I got to spend a week with him, Billy Lane and some others at a TV shoot in Hawaii, we got to know each other a little better there. We found that our lives had run sort of parallel to each other. We’re the same age, involved in bikes forever, he was just East Coast and I was West Coast.

MB: How long did the filming last?

Mondo: Discovery Channel® filmed Larry first, ten days of building his bike. They used to give everyone thirty days plus weekends off and a couple of weeks to get the bike painted. Now it is a straight ten days. When it came time for us to build our bike, I brought in a bunch of my guys and we designed it quickly and started to work. I sent my seat pan off to Paul Cox at Larry’s shop. I said that even though we were in competition, I wanted Paul to do my seat. When we got the bike done, it came to the day that we were to go meet Larry in Pittsburgh. We rode across the country in a group of about ten guys. We went to an old steel mill and met to see each other’s bikes for the first time. Then we set out for Charlotte.

MB: Are these cameras really close while you’re riding or are they zooming in from a distance?

Mondo: We were doing some really cool riding handlebar-to-handlebar through the Blue Ridge Mountains. He had about ten guys and I had my guys, everyone hit it off. The cameraman would hang the camera out of the back of the bed of the truck and put it right next to us.

MB: Was Larry talking about his stunt show at all during the three days of riding?

Mondo: One interesting thing that people don’t really know about the Indian Larry incident was that he had a really bad feeling about doing the trick where he stands on the seat. He had been telling his crew and my crew that he didn’t want to do it, that he had a bad feeling about it. Just before we got to Charlotte to the stadium, we were all just riding, the cameras weren’t on, all of sudden he pops up on his bike and stands on the seat right next to me and puts his arms out. Then he sat back down. I thought, “Man that’s weird.” He never looked at me, he never looked at anyone else. He just did it, did it for himself. He did the trick and never said anything to any of us. I think he just did it to see if he was confident enough to do it the next day.

MB: What happened once you got to Charlotte?

Mondo: We pulled in and rode up through the middle of a big crowd and set our bikes up. We signed autographs and the voting started. Then after a while it was time for Larry to go outside and do the trick on his bike. All the people were waiting for him outside in this area set up by the event folks. I just knew he didn’t want to do it. The Discovery Channel® deal was now over. They had gotten us to the venue, the voting was pretty much over, they had shut off most of the cameras. They were done. Other than the awarding of the trophy. They said, “You guys are on on your own now.” This had nothing to do with Discovery®. Larry had contracted with others to do the stunts and he went outside. He went walking past my girlfriend and then she came running over to me. She asked, “What’s the matter with Larry?” I said, “What do you mean?” She said, “He’s as white as a sheet. Is he sick or something?” She said he had a look on his face that was just unbelievable. So he went outside to do the trick and I was inside by myself. Next thing I heard someone came running in who said that Larry had fallen off his bike. I said, “Ah, no.” And after watching Denver die in the boat racing accident, I didn’t feel that I wanted to go outside to see it. Others came in and said he was going to be OK, that a helicopter was taking him to the hospital, he was moving and talking, and it was just a precaution to watch him. Then they announced that he’d probably be back at the event later that night.

Then a little later, when it was evening, the reports changed and people said it was really bad. The Discovery Channel® came to us and asked if we wanted to finish and have the awards ceremony. Hugh King came up and said that Billy Lane and some of Larry’s crew could push Larry’s bike up on stage and have the awards. But no one wanted to do it. I didn’t want to, Billy didn’t and neither did the New York crew. So we shut the thing off at that point, there wasn’t going to be an award, there was no winner. We all went back to the hotel, Kendall Johnson was there and Dave Perewitz. The evening was without news. Everyone went to bed waiting for news the next day.

Sunday, we took down all our displays and went back to the hotel. They called us to the hospital to see Larry. They had him there but he didn’t look good. I held his hand and it was ice cold. I knew then that they had called us there for us all to say goodbye to him. His wife Bambi was there. It was the first time that she had been to an event in a long time, it was terrible. The next morning he was gone. We all talked to Hugh King and he didn’t know what he was going to do, if they would air the build off or not. They talked to me and Larry’s crew and Bambi. The New York crew said the show should go on, that it was what Larry wanted. Bambi agreed and so did I. Everyone decided that Larry wouldn’t have wanted all the work to have gone to waste. Hugh then decided that they would give the trophy to Bambi at Larry’s memorial in New York City which you will see in the show. Hugh said it would probably be one of the best shows that they ever did. They had enough footage for a two hour special but couldn’t get the time arranged so they left it at one hour.

MB: So after riding with Larry for three days and doing the show in Hawaii, what was your impression of Larry?

Mondo: Larry was one in a million, he was a special guy. You’ve met him. He was very low key, and when I was with him, anytime anyone wanted an autograph, he’d stand there and sign. He was that kind of guy. He never refused anyone his time. He didn’t let the celebrity thing go to his head. What you saw was what you got. That was Larry. One thing that he did for me, I think I sent you the picture, was that big diesel truck piston he had engraved. He had planned to give it to me after the event. It had the question mark on top and it read, “Biker Build Off, Win, Lose or Draw, It’s Been Great.” He engraved his name on it and all his crew did also. When I was in New York for the memorial, when you were there, his crew brought me into the office and told me that Larry had wanted me to have it. It is my prized possession now, I have it on display in my office. It meant a lot to me.

MB: Do you think his crew will be able to keep things going?

Mondo: I just talked to them this morning. They stay real busy, they’re taking a lot of orders, they’re doing a lot of R&D, and they’re making it to the shows. I think they’ll be fine.

MB: I guess I hate to dwell on this, but there were lots of rumors after the accident that the TV folks had pushed Larry into doing something he didn’t want to do. It sounds like BBO didn’t really have much to do with the stunt at all. Probably just the inner circle of motorcycle guys being suspicious of the TV world, people we don’t know.

Mondo: Discovery Channel had nothing to do with it. That’s the truth. They were done, they got us there, they did the voting, they were sending their crew home.

MB: Hugh King’s been great for everybody hasn’t he?

Mondo: He’s a great guy, I like him. They took it real hard. Hugh was a great friend of Larry’s. Hugh and Tom (Beers) did a lot of soul searching trying to do the right thing afterwards. I think they’re doing the right thing in airing the show.

Mark Barnett: Thanks Mondo, it was good meeting you and I’m glad I could help you set the record straight.