Danny Koker: 0:00

Talk about an influence, a hero, as a kid growing up. Long before there were BMX bikes, we were taking our Stingrays jumping cinder blocks on the street. Jumping over our friends on the street. No helmets, no anything like that. Just doing it. We're all still here.

Joe P: 0:16

That one unlucky bastard with the shift lever right there.

Danny Koker: 0:20

With the shift lever, absolutely. Forget that. I know. That's going to hurt, bro. That's the truth, man. But it was Evel Knievel for Pete's sake.

Heather: 0:30

Evel Knievel inspired millions of us with his courage and perseverance. We're building a museum so you can relive those memories and be reinvigorated with that spirit of bravery.

Evel Knievel: 0:43

My name is Evel Knievel. I'm a professional daredevil.

Heather: 0:47

Along the way, we meet people involved in the life, the times, and the legacy of the King of daredevils. Here with their stories is your host, Joe Friday.

Joe P: 0:58

Hey howdy, it's Joe Friday and I'm here with Danny Koker, our new neighbor.

Danny Koker: 1:02

that's right. How you doing, Joe?

Joe P: 1:04

Good! We're moving the Evel Knievel Museum to Las Vegas.

Danny Koker: 1:08

That's awesome.

Joe P: 1:08

Trying to figure out why it was never here before.

Danny Koker: 1:11

It should be here. Vegas is a destination city. Everybody from the world comes here so everybody from the world needs to be here and see what's going on.

Joe P: 1:19

Yep, 45 million visitors per year.

Danny Koker: 1:22

huh.

Joe P: 1:23

So that's about a million per week.

Danny Koker: 1:27

Yeah, and the world knows Evel Knievel. So Vegas attracts the entire world, so they need to be coming here and seeing what you got going.

Joe P: 1:37

That's true. And you know Vegas.

Danny Koker: 1:40

Yeah.

Joe P: 1:40

and you know Evel Knievel.

Danny Koker: 1:42

I did. I did. I was very blessed to meet him. I can't say that I was friends or knew him, but I was very blessed to meet him and talk to him and be around him, things like that, for a little while. He was larger than life.

Joe P: 1:59

Was he in Vegas?

Danny Koker: 2:00

Yeah. I met him when New York New York opened and he was part of the big grand opening of the New York New York. And you know how they have that Brooklyn Bridge replica there in front of the place. We were invited down when myself and a bunch of guys that I ride with. They wanted motorcycles out there. And I'm guessing there must have been 20 or 25 of us that we used to get together and ride all the time. We all bombed it down there on our bikes, on our Harleys, and lined up on the bridge. And that's where I met Evel Knievel. He came out and hung out with us for a while. what a cool cat.

Joe P: 2:40

Huh.

Danny Koker: 2:41

yeah.

Joe P: 2:42

Fun fact. I designed and made the door pulls for the New York Casino.

Danny Koker: 2:46

Really?

Joe P: 2:47

They look like little Statue of Liberty's torches.

Danny Koker: 2:49

Yeah.

Joe P: 2:49

Yeah.

Danny Koker: 2:50

Nice. Very cool. Very cool.

Joe P: 2:53

That's my contribution.

Danny Koker: 2:54

Were you there when they did the grand opening?

Joe P: 2:55

So far in Las Vegas. No.

Danny Koker: 2:56

Oh, it's too bad.

Joe P: 2:57

No.

Danny Koker: 2:58

Too bad.

Joe P: 2:58

I wasn't a huge Vegas fan at the time. Yeah. because of gambling, ugh.

Danny Koker: 3:02

Yeah. Yeah.

Joe P: 3:03

But Vegas has changed a lot. I'm not saying there's less gambling. But dude, there is so much more to do in Las Vegas.

Danny Koker: 3:09

Yeah, I've lived here a couple of times in Vegas. First time I moved here was in'78. Yeah. And I was here from'78 to'82. And, I absolutely loved that era of Vegas. It was openly run by the mob. There was zero crime in this town. Nobody screwed around, or else you got 86'd, And that was 80 miles out and 6 feet down is where that came from. So that's why nobody screwed around. There was no crime. There was no crime. And then, as the city grew and we decided to clean up Las Vegas. They chased the mob out, so to speak, all the crime came in. back in those days, it was I really loved that era, that end of the'70s, early'80s era. And then I left for a while and I've been back here since'89. And I've really seen this city grow immensely. And like you were saying, gambling was the only industry at one time, but now, the way the city has grown so much, there's a lot of industry going on here, so it's not just gambling. Yeah. Yeah. And we're in the museum business where I come from, that's the Evel Knievel Museum, which is awesome. Yeah.

Joe P: 4:25

And then these other attractions that look to me to be successful. I haven't done a lot of market research, but Zak Bagans' Haunted Museum is shocking. Made me pee my pants.

Danny Koker: 4:36

What is it?

Joe P: 4:36

Zak Bagans Haunted Museum.

Danny Koker: 4:38

Oh, I've heard of it.

Joe P: 4:39

You've seen ads for it.

Danny Koker: 4:39

I've heard of it. Yep, haven't been there.

Joe P: 4:41

And then the Mob Museum.

Danny Koker: 4:42

Yep.

Joe P: 4:42

It's gotta be the number one attraction in Las Vegas. And then ours is going to be awesome.

Danny Koker: 4:48

Yeah. But you've got one, and I was wondering, what made you open up your collection, and show that to the public? It's like this. I'm a huge car collector. So as well as building motorcycles and building cars and all the other crazy things I'm involved in, I collect as well. And so that particular section of my shop, I just turned it into a museum. I turned it into a giant showroom. And I've got, man, I'm guessing 30 some odd interesting vehicles inside there. And, it's just my way of giving back. I've been on television for years, building cars and doing things like that. People have really enjoyed what we do. And so being in a destination city, everybody comes to Vegas and they want to see what you got going on. So I just open my doors and let people come in and wander around. and just come check it out. My business is running behind the scenes. So if people, come in and they want to just wander around and check out the place, I'm happy about that. Buy a t shirt on the way out. That's how I feel about it.

Joe P: 5:56

Okay. That's how you're making the money.

Danny Koker: 5:59

Absolutely. Buy a t shirt on the way out. Come in for free and buy something when you leave.

Joe P: 6:03

I just loved it. The Superfly Cadillac was my favorite.

Danny Koker: 6:08

That's a personal favorite. I love that. Okay, a little backstory on the Superfly Cadillac. I was born just south of Cleveland, Akron, Ohio. And I've got relatives all over Ohio, but most of my family is out of Detroit. So I spent most, a large part of my youth growing up between Akron and Detroit. And Detroit, huge influence on my life, style wise, music wise, everything wise. I just, I love that city like crazy. And so the first time I ever saw a Superfly Cadillac was in the'70s on Woodward Avenue back when they were new. And it was like, look at that. That is insane. And it made a huge impression. What's Woodward Avenue? Woodward Avenue was, is still to this day one of the most important roads for automotive enthusiasts on the planet. It's several miles, right through Detroit and four lanes each side, both ways. And that's, back in the day, everybody used to cruise Woodward Avenue. And now they do the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit every year, which is now, it's been turned into a car show, a big automotive event. But it comes by it honestly, where Woodward Avenue was the place to be cruising back in the day. And even the big automotive manufacturers, Ford and GM Chrysler, whatever, they would sometimes sneak prototype vehicles on Woodward Avenue back in the day and get people's feedback and stuff. So you see what they thought about it. So that's the first time I ever saw a Superfly Cadillac and it just always left an impression on me. And then, my love for that city and the vibe and the style. it's gotta be, it's gotta be 10 years ago or so now. I found this superfly Cadillac and it was in, I believe it was in Pennsylvania. A broker had it and it was represented as absolutely beautiful, blah, blah, blah. And, never buy anything sight unseen. I tell people this all the time, but I'm also. a nut job when I get passionate about things. And so I got all kinds of pictures of the car and I bought it sight unseen. And I had it shipped to me here in Vegas. And while it was 100 percent correct and complete and there, it needed full restoration. I was like, huh. So I took the car apart. Yep. Took the whole car apart. Completely restored it proper, the way it should be. And that's the car you see. Les Dunham, who is in Jersey, he is the owner and founder of Dunham Coachworks. He is the cat that built the Superfly Cadillacs back in the day. And Les is still around. I got his complete approval on the car. He loves it and he remembered that car because it had some really special stuff on it. And so it's been

Joe P: 9:02

He remembered that car?

Danny Koker: 9:03

Yeah, he remembered that car because it was, it's a convertible. It's a'71 Eldo convertible, but not only did a custom fiberglass tunnel when the top is down, that covers the back. But he did a, like a Roadster setup where it covered the complete backseat like the Batmobile type of humps. So you can make it like a two seater if you want to. And it's all there. It's all there and completely restored. He totally remembered a car and he gave me his stamp of approval on the restoration of this. That's a really important car to me.

Joe P: 9:29

I'll bet

Danny Koker: 9:30

I love that car. Yeah, it speaks to my soul.

Joe P: 9:32

Knievel loved the Cadillacs, too.

Danny Koker: 9:34

Big time. I got another car that Knievel had. He had one. Say what? Stutz Blackhawk. Remember when Knievel

Joe P: 9:40

You've got his?

Danny Koker: 9:40

No, I don't have his, but I have one. I have a Stutz Blackhawk. Elvis had six of them. Sammy Davis had one. Robert Goulet had one. Dean Martin had one. Lucille Ball had one. Evel Knievel had one.

Joe P: 9:55

The Stutz.

Danny Koker: 9:56

And I scored a'74 Stutz Blackhawk and I absolutely love that car.

Joe P: 10:01

Is that in your showroom?

Danny Koker: 10:02

It is actually, it's actually in my private building.

Joe P: 10:06

Oh.

Danny Koker: 10:06

because I drive her. I get her out and I drive her once in a while. if I see a Stutz on the road in Las Vegas, I'll know who it is. They're rare. It's the only one probably running around town right now,

Joe P: 10:18

You've got a flower car, Cadillac at your place.

Danny Koker: 10:21

I do.

Joe P: 10:21

That's a lot like Evel Knievel's red Cadillac pickup truck that he would load two motorcycles in.

Danny Koker: 10:27

Yeah. I did the same thing with mine. I made it to put a motorcycle rack on the back so I can put one of my choppers on the back of it. Absolutely. Absolutely. I got a screw loose, it's more fun that way.

Joe P: 10:41

What's your favorite restoration? Do you have one?

Danny Koker: 10:45

It's tough because we've done so many. I can tell you one that speaks to my heart. I can tell you a couple if you got time. One that really speaks to my heart was Barry White's widow, Glodean White, who is a beautiful soul. I just absolutely love her. We met over the years. Barry's no longer with us, but he had, speaking of Stutz, there's another guy, he had a Stutz IV-Porte, which is similar to the Blackhawk, but it was a four door version. Came out later. He had one that was his daily driver, and they had a place in Vegas, and that was a car that he kept in Vegas. when Barry passed, he had willed that car to a gentleman that kind of looked over his estate and looked over his stuff. So that car went to that gentleman. And that gentleman ran into some problems in his life, stepped off the curb or whatever. And over the years, sold the car somewhere. And Glodean and the family had lost track of where he went, or where the car went. It was just MIA. One day Glodean is, she's at my shop with me, because she rides. She's a motorcycle gal. She rides Harleys. She's totally cool. I've worked on her stuff at the shop. She's awesome. We were just chit chatting, and I knew the car from back in the day, and asked her whatever happened

Joe P: 12:16

yeah.

Danny Koker: 12:16

to Barry's Stutz? So she told me this story, and she's like As far as I know, it's somewhere in Las Vegas, I would do anything to find that car." Let me tell you, God is in his heaven and he watches over his kids. That's the truth. One day, I am literally driving around neighborhoods in Vegas. Just shopping. I do that. I like to look for interesting things.

Joe P: 12:41

I've seen you stalking.

Danny Koker: 12:43

Exactly. Some people think of it that way. And I cruise through this one neighborhood and I miss a turn. And I'm like, ah! So I go down the road a little bit further to make a U turn. As I go down the road a little bit further, in a driveway at this little house is a Stutz IV Porte the paint faded to pieces. Four flat tires. Thing is spider webbed to the ground. Doesn't look like it's moved in a hundred years. And I look at that car and I'm like,"That's Barry's Stutz," because I knew the car from back in the day. That's gotta be his. I go to the door. I'm knocking on the door. There's nobody home. I leave a note. If you're interested in selling this car, please call me. This lady, so kind, it took her a day. My phone is ringing, and it's her. And she says,"Did you leave a note on my house?" Absolutely. She says, Yeah, I want to get rid of this car." Oh my gosh, she hated it. Her husband bought it from this gentleman who had the car. Her husband passed. This thing was an eyesore to her. It was her and her daughter and she's I just want to get rid of it. I just get this thing out of my driveway. I'm like,"Look, I'm going to be honest with you, okay?" because I'm, that's who I am. I'm honest that way. Again, God is in his heaven and he's watching over his kids, so I'm not going to, I'm not going to treat somebody wrong. I told her straight up, I said,"You gotta know whose car that was."

Joe P: 14:15

huh.

Danny Koker: 14:16

"And I wanna buy it and get it back to the family, so I don't want you to say that I bought this thing from you and didn't tell you the truth about it." So she appreciated me being honest with her that it was Barry's car back in the day. And, but she was like,"Come get it." We decided on a number, I bought the car, I called Glodean, because Glodean was living in California. And I'm like,"Guess what?" She said,"What?" I said,"I got your husband's car." She said,"What?"No way.""Absolutely." So we check all the VIN. We check all the paperwork. It's confirmed Barry's car. I restored it for Glodean. Restored it for the family. What a challenging car to restore. Nobody makes parts for a Stutz IV Porte or a Stutz Blackhawk or anything like that. So it was a big challenge.

Joe P: 15:05

Do you make parts?

Danny Koker: 15:06

We'll make things. if it doesn't exist, we'll make it. Got a full fab shop. No problem. So restored that car for the family. I got it back to Glodean. Got it back to her family. She is absolutely thrilled. Her daughter got married. They used the car in their daughter's wedding. It was such a part of Barry's life that now it's back in the family and it's part of their life. And that is a long answer to a short question of an important restoration for me. Was getting Barry White's Stutz back to the family and restoring that.

Joe P: 15:43

yeah, yeah.

Danny Koker: 15:44

That was a cool one. And another one that I absolutely loved was I did a'67 Corvette restomod for Four Star General Peter Pace. Joint Chief of Staff. Chairman, Four Star General, the whole bit.

Joe P: 15:57

Yes.

Danny Koker: 15:57

Met this cat at a really exclusively cool event. And it was like his dream car. That was a really important one for me too as well.

Joe P: 16:05

One that features prominently in your showroom is the Mustang that you worked on with Dad.

Danny Koker: 16:09

Yeah. Yeah.

Joe P: 16:10

That's gotta mean a lot.

Danny Koker: 16:12

I make tasteless jokes with the boys. If there's ever a fire in the building, get that out first. And then go back in and get whatever else you can. That car, Dad brought that car home when I was nine years old. That car. he, Dad was a musician. Didn't have two nickels to rub together. Did everything he could to get that car. And he purchased that car and brought it home when I was nine years old. And that thing used to sit in the garage. He'd drive it once in a while. And I remember being a kid. Going out in the garage at night and just sitting in it or looking under the hood, or crawling under it, or whatever. That car was such a huge influence on my life and I feel so blessed that he got to hang on to that vehicle, and now it's still with me. That's probably the most important thing that I own because it was Dad's.

Joe P: 17:00

It's gorgeous. Thank you. I didn't realize that you didn't have to buy that back.

Danny Koker: 17:04

Yeah.

Joe P: 17:04

It's nice.

Danny Koker: 17:05

Yeah. Yeah. That car stayed in the family the whole time. The whole time. It's literally been with me for 50 years.

Joe P: 17:13

And that was in Detroit?

Danny Koker: 17:15

That was actually in Ohio.

Joe P: 17:16

Oh, yeah.

Danny Koker: 17:17

Dad was born and raised in Detroit. That's great. His part of the family was in Detroit, but the house where that car was in Ohio.

Joe P: 17:24

What brought you to Las Vegas?

Danny Koker: 17:26

Business. My father and I. Dad was the biggest influence on my life. He was a musician, brought me up in music, and then he got involved in television and production and things like that. And then he landed the license to put on Channel 33 here in Las Vegas back in 1989. I was living in South Florida at the time and I had a production company down there. It was a small production company. Edit bay, back in the day. So I had three Ikegami cameras and in a nice edit bay. And I was doing my thing. And he was like,"I'm going to put this TV station on in Vegas. You want in?" And I said, Yeah. folded up shop

Joe P: 18:07

yes.

Danny Koker: 18:08

in Florida. I came out here. And I thought I was just going to be out here long enough to help put on a TV station, but that was since 1989.

Joe P: 18:18

Where did the car restoration come in?

Danny Koker: 18:20

My whole life. My hobby. It's been a hobby my whole life. Most of my family worked for Ford Motor Company out of Detroit growing up. No kidding, they worked right there in the factory on the assembly line, working it, doing it. I've got aunts that worked when the factory converted during World War II, when the factory converted to making airplane wings and the materials and things like that. My aunts were on the line doing that. My father for a period of time was on the assembly line, checking engine blocks, the inspection, the old chalk mark inspections on the engine blocks, when checking for leaks, things like that. Dad worked there. My uncle Peter was an executive at Ford Motor Company back in the day as well. I grew up in cars. My uncle Milford was a biker so cars and bikes, I literally grew up with them. It's been a part of my life as far as I can remember. Whatever I may have been doing for a job, or an occupation, or an income at the time, there were always cars and bikes. Always cars and bikes in my life. When I lived in Florida, I had a small, I had an edit bay, because I was camera, director, audio, all that kind of stuff. That was how I paid the bills. But the back half of that building, I probably had eight or nine cars. And was tinkering around with stuff. Always in my life. fast forward moving to Vegas. came out here, put on the TV station, shipped my cars, my makeshift shop. I had a hobby shop, basically in a small warehouse. Had a hobby shop, and I was building cars and motorcycles behind the scenes. Then there was a small group of us, a handful of us guys, that would get together. We would wrench on bikes and wrench on cars or whatever. We could go out and play on the weekends or night time or whatever like that. And it got to the point where people were asking,"Hey, where'd you get that?" I would be riding a chopper down the road."Where'd you get that?""I want one of those.""That's really cool." It just got to the point of maybe this hobby shop, maybe we should get a license and insurance and open a business. So that's what happened. And a handful of us started Count's Kustoms. The reason it was Count's Kustoms was, I don't know if you know anything about this, but when we put on the TV station, Channel 33, I used to host a late night horror show. I was a vampire here in Las Vegas for ten years. That's the truth. It's crazy. I hosted a late night horror show every Saturday night here in Las Vegas called Saturday Fright at the Movies. With your host, Count Cool Rider, which was long for C.C. Rider. The whole object of the game was this vampire was the world's biggest unliving Elvis fan in Las Vegas. the character that I played was a vampire that loved Elvis. Yeah. Living in Vegas. Hosting horror films, having on crazy guests. This show ran for 10 years here in Las Vegas.

Joe P: 21:23

How big of an Elvis fan? wearing a jumpsuit, or?

Danny Koker: 21:27

No. It was very much a vampire get up, but with the sideburns and all that kind of stuff. A lot of Elvis vibe in the castle set and everything like that. And that's honest. I love Elvis. I love the king. All this time that this show was on in Vegas: Saturday, Friday at the movies with Count Cool Rider, behind the scenes, I was doing this cars and bikes. So when we decided to open that place as a real business, everybody in town knew the Count. So what do we call it? Let's call it Count's Kustoms because everybody knows the Count. I didn't know that eventually Count's Kustoms was going to be on a television show around the world. So now, everybody around the world is like, Why is it called Count's Kustoms? It's because of this crazy vampire hosting horror films in Vegas for 10 years. That's where that came from. I know man, it's kooky. That is so great. I've lived 14 lives already. It's nuts. I don't know. I need an intervention in my life.

Joe P: 22:38

And your bar is Vamp's.

Danny Koker: 22:39

Yeah, Count's Vamped. Yeah, V-A-M-P-E-D, Count's Vamped on West Sahara. Old school rock and roll club. That's what it is, man. It's a rock bar, rock club, live music, restaurant, bar. Insane. We support the local rock scene and then we host national bands that come through because it's set up for it. It's a real stage, real front of house, real lights, real everything. We can have big rock shows in there.

Joe P: 23:12

We can commiserate then. But I'm just starting my construction project.

Danny Koker: 23:16

Yeah.

Joe P: 23:17

Dealing with the city, so

Danny Koker: 23:19

Good luck.

Joe P: 23:19

be patient with me.

Danny Koker: 23:20

It's a challenge, it really is, especially when you're opening something unique and different. This is not the norm. So when it's not the norm, like when I was doing the rock club up there, or even my shop, Counts Kustoms, open to the public to walk around, city inspectors and rules and regulations and things that don't fall under the norm, it's challenging to get everybody to understand what you're trying to do. Yeah, We've got like virtual reality rides. yeah.

Joe P: 23:55

Sit on this motorcycle and you can experience what it's like to jump over 17 police cars.

Danny Koker: 24:03

Those are challenges like that. Yeah. sure.

Joe P: 24:05

So rewarding.

Danny Koker: 24:07

It is. It is. When you get it done, it's so unique. It's so one of a kind. It's so different. That's what makes it special.

Joe P: 24:15

Yeah. So we're starting our process. We're going to bring that to the Arts District in between The Strip and Fremont.

Danny Koker: 24:22

Wonderful.

Joe P: 24:23

Yeah, it'll be great.

Danny Koker: 24:24

Wonderful. I do absolutely love our city. I love our Mayor, Carolyn Goodman. God bless her. She is absolutely amazing. She has been so wonderful and helpful to myself and my businesses in overcoming some of these challenges and things like that, opening up a rock and roll club there in West Sahara. She completely helped me out with all that stuff. She's just an amazing human being. And she's old school. Her husband, Oscar, old school. She's old school. They're awesome people. I can't say enough nice things about them. I hope the next one's just as good. Yeah, I know. because yeah, she's not allowed to run anymore. That's it. She's done her term.

Joe P: 25:05

I do have to give a shout out right now to The Space who loaned us their podcast booth. We are building one into the museum. That's going to be kick ass. It's going to be in one of Evel Knievel's old trailers, but the Space has opened up their podcast facilities for us to use in the meantime. It's beautiful. We really appreciate it. Not only are you customizing cars and starring on television as a vampire and running a bar.

Danny Koker: 25:29

Yeah. I don't do the vampire thing anymore. Yeah Yeah But tell me about Music Mob. Okay, I grew up in music. Dad was a musician, brought me up in music. I'm an old school gospel singer. I grew up singing gospel back in the day, and amen to that, but I'm also a hardcore rock and roller. And I front my own band. It's a band called Count 77. We're a hard rock band. We're signed with Shrapnel Records. We got two original records out. We're working on a third record right now. As a matter of fact, I'm in the studio doing a single right now. One of my dear friends is Jeff Blando. Jeff Blando, who actually was instrumental in helping me put together Vamped. He was the key person in the sound and the lights up there. He's an amazing musician, but he's also a behind the scenes production guy when it comes to stage, sound, and lights. He's phenomenal. Blando and I are like brothers. He's the lead guitar player for Slaughter. He's the lead guitar player for Vince Neil. and he does a lot of other things. And he's a wonderful human being.

Joe P: 26:37

Slaughter's a name from the past.

Danny Koker: 26:38

I know.

Joe P: 26:38

Are they still around?

Danny Koker: 26:39

Oh, yeah. Oh, big time. Slaughter's touring right now. They're packing out shows. It's great. Mark's voice is on fire. They're doing wonderful. On the side, Blando has this gig called Music Mob. It's a trio: Guitar, bass, drums. And then he brings in special guests. So I sit in with Music Mob on different shows. He brings different guests all the time to do all these great rock shows. We were just talking about this place the other day.

Joe P: 27:14

And who's Sebastian?

Danny Koker: 27:15

Sebastian Bach?

Joe P: 27:16

Yes.

Danny Koker: 27:17

Do you know Sebastian?

Joe P: 27:17

I don't know.

Danny Koker: 27:18

Okay, Sebastian Bach. He is a good friend. He is the, he's Skid Row. Remember the band Skid Row?

Joe P: 27:27

Yeah, I sure do.

Danny Koker: 27:27

Okay, alright. Sebastian Bach, lead singer Skid Row. Now they have gone their separate ways. and Sebastian does a ton of solo stuff now. And he's moved to Vegas. Sebastian's been in Vegas, it's gotta be a couple of years now. And lives a raging 37 seconds from my club, from Vamped. And we hang out all the time. And he is an amazing, amazing singer, amazing frontman. and a really fun guy. A really fun, crazy guy. If you hang out with Sebastian for any period of time, your face is going to hurt from laughing. So he's a cool cat. Yeah, there's a lot of great rockers here in Vegas. Phil Soussan is another one right up there by the club. He's an amazing bass player, played with Ozzy. He wrote"Shot in the Dark." Was in Ozzy's band. Was with Billy Idol. All kinds of stuff. He lives right up the street, too. There's a whole community there. It's pretty cool. Paul Shortino, man, another one. Duke Fame from what in the world was that comedy rock movie from back in the day?

Joe P: 28:47

Spinal Tap.

Danny Koker: 28:47

Thank you. Duke Fame in Spinal Tap. Their idol, when the band idolized this rocker, Duke Fame,

Joe P: 28:54

yes.

Danny Koker: 28:54

that's Paul Shortino. Paul lives right up the street as well. He's a wonderful guy. There's a lot of great rockers here in town.

Joe P: 29:03

I'm in good company then.

Danny Koker: 29:04

Amen, brother.

Joe P: 29:04

Old punk rocker.

Danny Koker: 29:05

Yeah. Alright. It's

Joe P: 29:07

not the focus of our museum, but someday, in the very distant future, we're going to have a grand opening.

Danny Koker: 29:14

Not too distant future. You got this. This is going to be awesome. This is going to be awesome.

Joe P: 29:20

It'd be fun to get with those guys. I hate to call them right now. because I'm like, Hey, what are you doing in 2028?

Danny Koker: 29:29

I love it. Like I said, Blando and I, we were talking about it. And he's like You just let them know when it's grand opening time, we'll put together a show. Put together a big kickoff show. It'll be a ball. because we all love Evel Knievel big time.

Joe P: 29:46

Dude

Danny Koker: 29:47

yeah

Joe P: 29:47

Me too.

Danny Koker: 29:47

Yeah.

Joe P: 29:48

I wasn't expecting to. I was just volunteering at this museum that opened up. Lathan is a huge, wonderful collector and he had some artifacts that he had collected. He decided he was going to make it his mission to collect Evel Knievel's stuff. Kind of lost to the winds in 1977. So Lathan started collecting helmets, capes, leathers, canes. and put together a little traveling museum that would go maybe to Butte or to the car shows.

Danny Koker: 30:19

Yeah.

Joe P: 30:20

Things like that. Came across this big red truck, big red Mack truck, Circus Wagon. If this Evel Knievel Circus Wagon pulls into your town, you're in for a really good time. But it was dilapidated. My friend had restored a Harley Davidson for the killer in Memphis.

Danny Koker: 30:37

Yeah.

Joe P: 30:39

Jerry Lee Lewis.

Danny Koker: 30:39

Yeah.

Joe P: 30:40

And they had a mutual friend and referred Lathan to Mike and Mike restored this Mack truck. He's a Harley dealer.

Danny Koker: 30:48

Yeah

Joe P: 30:48

He'll work on any Harley no matter what year it is.

Danny Koker: 30:50

Yeah,

Joe P: 30:51

1910 or

Danny Koker: 30:52

yep

Joe P: 30:53

1980, he works on it. Most dealers won't do that. But to take on a Mack Truck was, you know, that's a challenge. And then once it's done what do you're traveling museum is over with, right? You're not going to take that thing on the road, right? So Mike and Lathan, together, they founded the museum there in Topeka, Kansas. So it was all a little bit by accident or luck.

Danny Koker: 31:15

Yeah.

Joe P: 31:16

But to be intentional it would be in Las Vegas.

Danny Koker: 31:18

Yeah, man. This is a great spot for it.

Joe P: 31:21

Yeah.

Danny Koker: 31:22

Absolutely.

Joe P: 31:23

But yeah, in 1977 it was lost and he lost everything or most things and including his fame. Just went away. It wasn't in the Enquirer every month or year.

Danny Koker: 31:38

Sure.

Joe P: 31:38

He just disappeared.

Danny Koker: 31:39

Yeah.

Joe P: 31:40

I forgot about him and volunteered at the museum and then just fell in love with his story of courage and inspiration and the things that he brings to us. Guys our age coming to the museum and the wife thinks they're doing the world's best present."This is his birthday."

Danny Koker: 31:59

Yeah.

Joe P: 31:59

I brought, look what I brought: Him. Yeah. And it truly is a gift because they walk in and it's not like they mist up or get emotional right away, but Oh my God, he's 10 years old again.

Danny Koker: 32:11

Yeah.

Joe P: 32:12

Look at him. He's shrinking. His freckles are coming back.

Danny Koker: 32:14

It's the truth.

Joe P: 32:15

It's so great.

Danny Koker: 32:16

It is. We grew up with this. Talk about an influence, a hero, as a kid growing up. It's huge. It's huge. Long before there were BMX bikes, we were taking our Stingrays and jumping cinder blocks on the street. Jumping over our friends on the street. No helmets, no anything like that. Just doing it. We're all still here.

Joe P: 32:39

That one unlucky bastard with the shift lever right there.

Danny Koker: 32:43

With the shift lever, absolutely. Forget that. I know. That's going to hurt, bro. That's the truth. That's the truth, man. But it was Evel Knievel for Pete's sake. One of the just amazing things that I always think about with Evel Knievel was when he said he was going to do it, he put on the show for the crowd. Even if he knew in the back of his mind, this was not going to work. He never backed down. He never backed down. The guy had no fear. That's wild. You look at some of this stuff.

Joe P: 33:23

He's what am I going to do, give them their money back?

Danny Koker: 33:27

I know, and you also look at the technology that he did not have for that era.

Joe P: 33:35

Yeah, that is a street motorcycle.

Danny Koker: 33:37

You look at today and you see the incredible things that these daredevils are able to accomplish today. They have technology beyond belief. And I'm not taking anything away from them, it's amazing. But look at what Evel Knievel did on a street bike with four inches of travel. What? Yeah.

Joe P: 33:58

Send it!

Danny Koker: 33:58

Insane. Insane. Some years ago, I was part of when Travis Pastrana came out here and he did three things. Did you see that?

Joe P: 34:08

Evel Live.

Danny Koker: 34:10

I was on that with him and he did a lot of the things. And he's a wonderful young man, by the way, Travis Pastrana. What a cool cat. Again, an amazing daredevil. Hung out with his mom while he was doing these things.

Joe P: 34:25

Oh man, poor mom.

Danny Koker: 34:26

God bless her. Oh man, exactly. She's just like losing her mind, and what he accomplished was amazing. But technology, and he even tried to dial back the technology as much as he could to pay respect to Evel. But still, the technology he had was a bit more. It was a bit more than what Evel had. And you look at these things and it's like, you've got to be kidding me. Watching this, watching this with this guy. Again, Evel Knievel had no fear. Even if he knew in the back of his mind this was not going to work.

Joe P: 35:02

So true.

Danny Koker: 35:03

Yeah.

Joe P: 35:03

So heroic.

Danny Koker: 35:04

Yeah. That's what whiskey's for.

Joe P: 35:07

Wild Turkey.

Danny Koker: 35:10

That's right.

Joe P: 35:13

If somebody came to you and said, just asking your creative mind.

Danny Koker: 35:19

Okay.

Joe P: 35:21

What would be the ultimate tribute vehicle for Evel Knievel? If you were going to build that in your shop.

Danny Koker: 35:29

That's tough, because like you said, he was a Cadillac guy. And I love the fact that he loved the Stutz and things like that. But man, when I think of Evel Knievel, I just think of that old school Harley Davidson. You can't help it. The pictures, when I look at that logo behind you here.

Joe P: 35:47

Yes.

Danny Koker: 35:48

You know what I'm saying?

Joe P: 35:49

XR.

Danny Koker: 35:49

It's just it would For me it would be something like that, because that's what we saw all the time. That was it.

Joe P: 36:00

Yep. Agreed. I love that Patriot bike that you did on your show. Had the Constitution on the back. That's not Evel Knievel, but it is Stars and Stripes.

Danny Koker: 36:09

I appreciate that. I'm a flag waving, patriotic, God loving American. If we can't stand behind the Stars and Stripes, go away. That's how I feel about it. I'm proud to wave that flag wherever I can. Amen to that. Our constitution, our, yeah, absolutely. Don't get me started. I'll get, I'll go crazy on that.

Joe P: 36:34

But anyways, that's what we would do for Evel Knievel.

Danny Koker: 36:36

Yeah.

Joe P: 36:36

Take an XR750 Harley Davidson.

Danny Koker: 36:39

Yep.

Joe P: 36:39

And put Stars and Stripes on it.

Danny Koker: 36:41

And I love the fact that Evel was huge on the Stars and Stripes. His outfits were extremely patriotic. He was America. He was a slice of Americana right there.

Joe P: 36:51

Yeah. When it wasn't popular. 1968, he had his first red, white, and blue. And he had that made for that was the year that he did Caesar's Palace here in Las Vegas. And motorcycling was different then.

Danny Koker: 37:06

There was a taboo to it.

Joe P: 37:07

And he was counter to the counterculture. Soldiers are coming back from Vietnam, getting spat on, baby killers. And he's can you make me a red, white, and blue?

Danny Koker: 37:19

Amen. Love that about him.

Joe P: 37:21

Yeah, me too.

Danny Koker: 37:22

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep. Yep.

Joe P: 37:26

Worked out great. That is a great look.

Danny Koker: 37:28

Without a doubt.

Joe P: 37:29

Lasted 50 years.

Danny Koker: 37:30

Yeah, and again, as an Elvis fan, too, there was a certain Elvis flair to some of them jumpsuits, too, you know what I'm saying? It had that vibe to it. It was really cool. Yeah. It was really cool.

Joe P: 37:41

Yeah. Now that I'm on Evel's side and not Elvis's, I'm a huge Elvis Presley fan, too,

Danny Koker: 37:47

Absolutely.

Joe P: 37:48

They can compare belt buckles, right? They can compare collars. But only one of them gets to call it a jumpsuit.

Danny Koker: 37:55

That's a good point. That's a good point. Only one of them was jumping. That's true. That's great. That's great.

Joe P: 38:03

Any advice for a young, bootstrapping museum? Moving to Las Vegas?

Danny Koker: 38:11

I would say be prepared to live with it. You're going to live with it night and day. I can't say that I'm one that can give good advice as what to do, but I'll tell you what I do. and that is I do my best and nobody is perfect. Nobody can pull it off, but I do my best to just treat everybody right. Try to be honest with everybody. I try to go the extra mile with everybody. I try to make sure that nobody feels like they got had when they do business with me. That everybody walks away feeling good, even if I gotta take it in the shorts to make sure that customer is happy. Go over and above. Do the extra mile. And don't stop saying your prayers.

Joe P: 39:02

Yeah. That's some really great advice.

Danny Koker: 39:05

That's what works, man. I keep laying that out there, but it's the truth, man. It's the truth. Don't stop saying your prayers. That's what works. It's the only thing that's real. So that's what I stand on.

Joe P: 39:19

Thank you, Mr. Koker.

Danny Koker: 39:20

Brother, thank you for having me.

Joe P: 39:21

I really appreciate you being here.

Danny Koker: 39:22

It's an honor. Hope and pray and trust and believe that this museum will be so huge and so successful for you. I think it is absolutely wonderful. I love that it is coming to Las Vegas. I love that you're bringing it here. You got my support, whatever we can do. Let's have some fun with this. Brother, I'm with you 100%.

Joe P: 39:41

Thank you.

Danny Koker: 39:41

Thank you for having me. I appreciate you.

Joe P: 39:43

Appreciate you too.

Danny Koker: 39:44

Thank you so much. Thank you so much.

Joe P: 39:46

Okay. Happy landings.

Heather: 39:49

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe. It's our mission to preserve and present the legacy of Evel Knievel. if you have an idea for an episode or a guest, or have a suggestion to improve our show, just drop us a line at joe at thrill dot show.

Evel Knievel: 40:09

I just think the Evel Knievel way.

Heather: 40:14

We leave you with the encouraging words from the book of Deuteronomy. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Until next time, happy landings! You like to fly to the seat of your pants? This is where you belong.