LISTEN: Bill Dixon gets ready for La Crosse’s Big River Rally, talks about his worst accidents as a stunt driver
The first annual Big River Rally in La Crosse happens Friday and Saturday at the Southside Festgrounds.
Saturday’s entertainment includes multiple shows from stunt bike rider Bill Dixon.
Dixon, who has over 20 years pro experience, told Rock Mornings on 95.7 the Rock that he’s been riding and showing off since he was 4 years old but, also, he’s had the showoff mentality since before that.
Dixon remembered watching the Olympics as a 3 year old and thinking that was a way to impress people.
“My mom had a coffee shop,” Dixon recalled, “so I went down there and there were all these guys sitting out front drinking coffee. So I was like, ‘I’m going to do a big flip in front of them.’
“I ran and did this flip and bursted my head wide open on the ground — thought I was gonna make it. But I just got back on my feet and never slowed down. I just kept running, around the corner, and checked my head. I was bleeding everywhere. But I just wanted to show off.”
Dixon also talked about some of his worst accidents — one which really wasn’t his fault at all.
“Was actually done riding my motorcycle at a competition,” Dixon said. “I was driving around in the parking lot with my helmet on the gas tank, because I was just talking on the mic and this car came out of nowhere and just blasted me. Seventeen staples. I actually competed the following day and won the event.”
Another accident may have hindered his ability to perform, but doctors did what doctors do.
“One time I wrecked a bike and my pinky got dragged, all the meat off my pinky,” Dixon said, “and it doesn’t really work anymore. And I had the doctors set it so my pinky could grip the handlebar because it’s a little bit crooked now.”
Working pinky or not, Dixon has excelled. He’ll perform at the Oktoberfest grounds downtown at at 1 p.m., 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday at the Big River Rally.
The last show will be a precursor to the Jackyl concert that plays that night — Buckcherry plays on Friday — so spectators will need tickets, which are for both days and cost $40.
A veterans breakfast starts things off Saturday morning.