
70th Annual Sturgis Rally Part 5 – Rat’s Hole Custom Chopper Show
Story and photos by Jack Cofano
There are quite a few bikes shows that take place at the Sturgis rally each year and one of the most popular shows has to be the Rat’s Hole Custom Chopper Show. This year it was held at the Legendary Buffalo Chip. It’s a great place to hold the show giving spectators a wide-open space to view the bikes with all the amenities just a stones-throw away.
Let me give you a little history of this show as it the longest running custom motorcycle show in the world. It was founded in 1973 by Karl Smith, A.K.A Big Daddy Rat, in Daytona Beach, Florida, during the annual Run to the Sun bike week festivities. The first show was held in the A&P parking lot just off Main Street. Since its inception, the show has expanded to include Sturgis, South Dakota, Germany, France, Sweden, Canada, Colorado, South Carolina, and Italy. It’s no surprise that the “Rat” has become on of the most recognizable symbols of our sport. I actually have the Rat Fink tattoo on my arm holding a camera and have built Rat Fink models in the past. Shows how much of a fan I am, huh?
Although Big Daddy Rat is no longer with us, the gauntlet has been passed on to his son Ted Smith who has brought back the past glories of custom bike building and the show has been featured in countless magazines and television shows in the last three years.
This year’s show took place on a gorgeous sunny day with competitors filing in and setting up in a way that gave spectators room to walk around the bikes and not have to miss out on the intricate details you sometimes miss in the packed-in bike shows. Since the AMD show ended the night before, many of the entries from that show also competed in the Rat’s Hole show and I am glad they did as I got to take photos in a great setting and also get to check the bikes out up close.
The Rat’s Hole show is my idea of a bike show; ride ‘em in, clean ‘em up, and then mingle with the spectators. This is a show for the masses. No invitation needed, no politics involved, just build it, bring it, and enter it. I’m sure that Big Daddy would have wanted it that way.