'Baller in Black

Frank151: Start by telling us a little bit about yourself.
Rick Thorne: I started riding in ’82, or something. I just loved riding. I was from a dysfunctional family in the Midwest, and I was ready to feel free and to get out and get away from problems at home. We just stuck with it. We started setting goals with it, and then things grew. Now it’s evolved into the X-Games and Dew Tour and a lot of big sponsorships, which is awesome. ’Cause back in the day, dude, there were no sponsors. I wanna believe that we helped shape that whole sponsorship deal in BMX. We would learn in school how to put together a resumé, and then would go home and put it together and send it in, not even knowing who was there, to try to get sponsored, and it started to work. There was a sanctioning series back then, but it was way small. It was almost getting past a sideshow at a state fair or something. The industry was still there, but it was at a different level.

From riding I started doing television about 15 years ago, then that evolved into radio, into voiceovers, into movies...but everything stemmed from riding. For me, I kind of became more of a personality. I think in life you have to just keep exploring ideas to keep your own self excited. You can be a bike rider your whole life and beat a dead horse. If you don’t take any risks, then you can become stagnant no matter what it is.

I like to look at myself like I can do anything I want. I started a band. My band’s called Good Guys in Black. We’ve been doing real good the last two years. In the first year we did over 100 shows. I manage and run the band and I manage myself. I’m a go-getter. I guess if you would ask me about myself, I’d say that if I wanna do something, I’m gonna do it. If that person can do it, I can do it. Or if that person can’t do it, I still can do it. But I haven’t always been that way, and bike riding’s really what made me that way. As corny as that sounds, it did. It brings up your confidence a lot.

F151: How did you get involved with Max and Gumball?
RT: I was one of the last invites last year from Monster, ’cause Monster was sponsoring the tour. Maximillion’s an old BMXer, which I didn’t know about, which is crazy. He has a sick bike collection. They added me last minute. I always wanted to do the Gumball, because I saw a premiere at the Chinese Theatre like four or five years ago, and I was envious, man. I was like, “Ahh, I’d love to do that thing! It reminds me of like The Cannonball Run.” I was on the 2009 Gumball. Time flies, man.

F151: Who was your co-pilot?
RT: The people that I drove with on Gumball were Paul Thacker, he’s a pro snowmobile rider, and then my team manager, Terri Sacks, she went, too.

F151: What kind of car did you guys drive on the rally?
RT: You know, when you think of Gumball, you think, I wanna be in a Lamborghini! I wanna be in a Ferrari! But you don’t wanna be a target for the pigs. I scored. I was in a Cadillac Escalade, Extended version. What was cool about it was we were watching movies and I was working on my computer. But we need to talk about the driving situation, because they didn’t let me drive, and when I did drive, I kicked ass. I was haulin’ ass, and then I think I freaked ’em out, ’cause I was racing a Lamborghini and I wouldn’t let it pass me—just total flat Louisiana or whatever. I had it fully pinned, and they were like, “Yo, uhh...we wanna drive.” [Laughs] So I said, “Aright, if you wanna drive, I’ma work on my computer.”

But the drives weren’t bad. To me what was really cool about Gumball is...I’ve toured a lot, and it’s always been work—for a contest, or for a demo, or for some sort of appearance—and this was really casual. So I actually enjoyed it because I got to see a lot of things that I normally just blaze past, like Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon, some weird wild spot where they had Cadillacs buried nose-dive in the ground—old-school Caddies, though. Like, spraypaint all over them. What else did we see? Sedona Canyon?
F151: Arizona?
RT: Yeah. I had never been there. I didn’t even know that place existed. It was really odd for me because I’ve been touring 25 years—I’m 40 right now—so everything’s been like just, go go go, and this was the first time I got to just go and be on a mission for no real reason, which was pretty cool. It was cool to see a lot of stuff that I think most people don’t get to see, or save money all year to go to. I was like the Griswalds, though, at the Grand Canyon. I shot a photo and I was like, “Is there a skatepark around here, dude? I’m over it.” You can only look at rocks so long. The exciting part to anything is getting there, the anticipation.

F151: Did you bring your bike?
RT: Nope. I didn’t bring my bike at all. I know Tony Hawk and Mike Escamilla brought their bikes or their boards. But for me, I just looked at it like, I’m working so much, I’ll just look at it as a break. It would have been such a detour with the crew I was with. I’d always be pulling teeth like, “I want to go ride!” I was more into seeing stuff that I’d never seen. It was a vacation more for me, which I never get to take, unfortunately. I think I’ve traveled once ever—flying—without my bike, and I’ve been doing this for 25 years.

F151: No family vacations?
RT: We’re planning one.
F151: First one in 25 years?
RT: Well I mean, I’ve been married before. Big deal, right? And I was young. So let me put it into perspective…. My honeymoon was at the first X-Games, ’cause I wasn’t missing that contest. We got divorced afterwards, which I’m glad! ’Cause if I wouldn’t have went because we were getting married, and we got divorced anyway, I would have missed the first X-Games!
F151: Your first X-Games was your honeymoon?
RT: ESPN did a feature on it. Holla! I thought it was bitchin’. She didn’t like it. But hey, man…BMX!

F151: Did anything happen to you on the rally with the police?
RT: No. We cruised it, except when I was driving. We really went the speed limit. It was a total rabbit race. I was messing with the Sheikh of Dubai hardcore. I called him out. I walked up on him in Anaheim, and I go, “Yo. You the Sheikh?”—Obviously. He goes, “Yeah.” And I go, “You’re going down!” I talked all this crap on him. They came back at me, “Well you’re going down!” It was awesome. They would text message me, “Yo, we just passed you!” Then we’d pass them and text message them back, “Yo, your diplomatic immunity don’t work right now, does it?!”—Which it did! He got pulled over blazing 150 or something, and he has a diplomatic immunity pass. He turned out to be real cool, ’cause he was like, “I respect your country, even though I have this pass to do whatever.” But they have the funniest money, man. Their status is based off of their license plate. This is the rumor I heard: He has a gold-plated freakin’ license plate that has the number “1” that he paid a million bucks for!

They also had this map, and they’d go, “Can you pick where Dubai is?” They were asking a lot of people, trying to clown how stupid Americans were. So I picked Israel on purpose, ’cause I caught wind of it. So right there, “Are you sure?” “Yeah, I been there. Right there.” And they’re like, “Oh, cool. He got it right.” So I said, “Oh, cool.” And I let it play for a little bit, and then I rolled up on ’em and I said, “Yo, you can’t front on me! I know exactly where it’s at. I picked Israel on purpose, son!”

F151: So they tried to trick you?
RT: They would go around to people and get a kick out of it and film it, so they could go back and say, “Look how dumb Americans are!”

F151: Everyone on Gumball is so different, but you guys all got along.
RT: I get along with everybody. You just reach a point in your life when you really do care, but at the same time, you can’t deny how you feel. And once you reach that point in life, it’s rewarding. You’re not out to hurt anybody’s feelings, but you’re not out to go through your whole life not saying how you feel. That’s what my band is all about.

F151: Tell us about the band.
RT: Yeah, my band Good Guys in Black. Good Guys in Black basically stands for people that have been judged or misinterpreted or represented by other people, but your intentions are good, and you’re not out to start any trouble, but you ain’t gonna take any. It’s a rock ‘n’ roll, punk rock, vigilante-style stance. You stand up for yourself, but you’re not a bully or redneck or nothin’. So everything’s very positive—a negative situation into a positive. Trying to get through life in a way that means something.

F151: Are you the singer?
RT: I sing, Travis plays guitar, Tommy plays drums, and we’re hiring a bass player to go on tour.
F151: That’s exciting
RT: I also put together a skatepark tour. It’s called Grindz and Rhymez. It’s BMX, skate, and music, at skateparks. I got Monster Energy and Famous to sponsor it. Thirty-one parks, six-week tour, tour bus, the whole deal. It’s pretty badass. It’s a good way for me to keep riding out there, promote action sports, and get kids into the music.

Now, skateparks are based off the foundations of demos, not so much music. So the music is like a side note to the contest and the demo. But it’s a good way to get the skate kids and other locals and BMXers into the music and grow outwardly. I think a lot of people in music want that action-sports fan base—especially skateboarding, ’cause it’s the biggest one. Hip-hop artists, rock ‘n’ roll artists, country artists, they all want a slice of that, ’cause you’re talking about, what...15 to 20 million skaters? That’s a lot of people. They’re not dumb. Their record labels were like, “Yo, we gotta captivate this crowd.”

So what I’m trying to do is not be that athlete like, “Hey, look at me! I’m in a band! I’m getting older and I can’t ride any more, right? Let me start a band so you guys will still love me, even though I suck!” It’s actually harder ’cause people are like, “Ugh, another athlete trying to do some shit.” I don’t want you to give it to me, ’cause then I know it’s not genuine. I want to feel it genuinely, ’cause then I know I’ve got lasting power.

F151: You act, too.
RT: Yeah. I interviewed Vin Diesel a long time ago when I worked for ESPN. I used to do a show for them for almost four years. He came out to check out the X culture in Philadelphia, and he’s like, “Hey, I like you. I want to put you in my movie.” And I was like, “Oh, yeah. That’d be badass.” It was called xXx. Tony was in it, and Carey Hart was in it, Matt Hoffman…. I had a pretty good part. After that I’m like, “I’m getting into acting school,” ’cause I realized it was completely different than riding, than hosting, a completely different world. I’ve done like seven films. Me and Mike V[allely] did a couple of indies together. I did one that got bought by Showtime. And then the last one that I did was Mall Cop. It was me and Mike V again in the same place. It was like, wow, me and Mike have a lot in common and we seem to be put into the same kinda category, ’cause we’re both go-getters, and not many people in the industry are.

It was cool doing Mall Cop, ’cause we played the dudes who took over the mall, which was rad. But movies, same with singing...I got into vocal training and I learned how to sing. I didn’t know how to at first. I was very flat, very from-the-throat. And you want to save your voice. It’s a muscle, so you have to learn to work it out. If I don’t know how to act—I’m gonna learn to. If I don’t know how to sing—I’m gonna learn to. If you want to do anything, you can do it. You just gotta go for it. But acting is awesome.

F151: Is there anything else you’d want our readers to know?

RT: Well, I don’t mean to be cheesy, but stay positive. Never give up. That’s my whole theory. But if there’s anything you ever want to do in life, don’t let anything hold you back. Life’s short, and before you know it, it’s over, so you got nothing to lose.

www.rickthorne.tv