The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club
The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club book cover

The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club

Paperback – Illustrated, February 15, 2009

by
Price
$21.99
Format
Paperback
Pages
304
Publisher
Motorbooks
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0760335376
Dimensions
6 x 0.88 x 9 inches
Weight
1.04 pounds

Description

“Read this captivating story and decide for yourself if the Boozefighters were really the outlaws depicted in The Wild One ” Born To Ride (September, 2005) “The original Boozefighters done it and they done it good. Readers are therefore at liberty to just open the book at any page and start reading, put it down and later repeat the same satisfying process.” Thunder Press (September, 2005) The Boozefighter By-Laws of 1946 1: To become a Boozefighter a man must attend four meetings consecutively and be voted on by secret ballot by all members present and must not be opposed by three (3) or more members. 2: Club is closed at twenty members. 3: Initiation fee is two (2) dollars. Dues are 50 cents a week. When a member is voted in, he must pay the sum of $2.50. 4: If a member misses three meetings consecutively without a substantial explanation, he will be voted upon again. 5: Any member who is absent without a reasonable excuse from the club activities will automatically be dropped from the club. 6: If a member misses a meeting without a reasonable excuse he will be fined $1.00. 7: Officers will be elected every three months, if they are still living. 8: There will be a fine of one dollar for any member not wearing his sweater to meetings, club activities, races, etc., without a reasonable excuse. 9: Any member leaving or being voted out of the club will either remove the lettering from his sweater, or sell it back to the club. 10: It is strictly against all club rules for any one member to bring more than one case of liquor or one keg of beer or wine to a meeting. 11: There will never be any women in any way affiliated in any way shape or form with the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club or its subsidiaries. 12: If any member of the Boozefighters, or its subsidiaries, is found guilty of crapping out on his back, having the club name where it can’t be seen, or not having his sweater on when being crapped out, he will be fined $1.00. 13: No member will be completely without a motor for more than six months. If he is, he will be automatically dropped from the club. Bill Hayes is one of those rare authors who abides by the age-old writing advice: "Write what you know." And for him, it works. His love for motorcycles--specifically the always-compelling biker culture--launched his writing success. His bestselling book, The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club , followed by American Biker (www.americanbikerthebook.com) and The One-Percenter Encyclopedia have all become classics within the genre. Hayes has served as the National Press and Publicity Officer for the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club (BFMC), continually striving to get the media to trade in their sensationalism for the truth.

Features & Highlights

  • Get an inside look at the real beginning of outlaw biker culture with this “raucous and heartfelt recounting of the early days of biker clubs” (
  • Roadbike
  • ).  The story starts one weekend in 1947, at a motorcycle race in Hollister, California.  A few members of one club, the no-holds-barred “Boozefighters,” got a little juiced up and took their racing to the street.  Word of the fracas spread, and soon enough
  • Life
  • magazine was on hand to tell the world, with sensational (albeit posed) pictures of the outlaws. And then the “Hollister riot” made its way into the movies, immortalized in Marlon Brando’s “The Wild One.”
  • What was the reality behind the myth?  Through interviews with the surviving members of the Boozefighters, current member Bill Hayes and club historian Jim “JQ” Quattlebaum take readers right into the fray for a firsthand account of what happened in Hollister, and the formation of  the Boozefighters, where the outlaw biker culture truly began.  The book, “with its great stories and entertaining real-life characters” (
  • MotorcycleUSA.com
  • ), is “mandatory reading for anyone interested in American motorcycling history “(
  • Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly
  • ).

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
60%
(250)
★★★★
25%
(104)
★★★
15%
(62)
★★
7%
(29)
★
-7%
(-29)

Most Helpful Reviews

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The Missing Chapter

I was a member of the Boozefighters from 1988-1990, & still hold charter 13 issued to me by Wino Willie. I'm mentioned twice on pg. 282 of the book "The Original Wild Ones" (without my initial knowledge), and because of this, though I enjoyed the tales of the early years (and fondly recall Wino keeping me laughing while telling his stories), I wish that Hayes had spent just a little more time and effort on the very brief mention of the open letter written by Wino to the club. There was much more going on behind the scenes at the time. I know it was a dark chapter in the club's history, and Hayes told me himself in an email (after the book was published) that he didn't want to dwell on that period, I think the reader should've had more context about the growing pains the club went through when it went nationwide. I know none of the 1988 charter holders were still members when the book was written, but some of us weren't that hard to locate (well, I wasn't anyways).

Anyhow, despite this failing, I'd highly recommend the book for the look at the way the biker lifestyle was like, before the politics etc.

"Terry The Tramp of Bellingham"
Charter Holder #13 BFMC 1988
7 people found this helpful
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BOOZEFIGHTERS MC "OWOF/ BFFB/ FWIFWA

As a member of the Boozefighters mc its a very informative and educational read. And at times i laughed out loud at some of the tales. A truly great book as Boozefighters i loved it... for those not club members gives a inside look at a life and life style you can't see unless your a member... a Awesome read by Bill Hayes of the Boozefighters mc an Dave Nicholas my man at Easy riders magazine. Grab a copy an enjoy... Chris W. Ox"
5 people found this helpful
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don't bother

I found this book to be a long winded tale about people the writer wishes he was. He tries to be associated with the original club, but is only loosely tied to them based on a revived patch (club). Save yourself the trouble and read one of Sonny Barger's books instead.
3 people found this helpful
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Great stories of the beginnings of Motorcycle Clubs.

For me a great look at my family history. My father is Cookie the owner of the All American Cafe where the Boozefighter began. Growing up my parents where always telling stories about these times. Unfortunately my father passed away in the 1980's and my mother passed before I knew about this book. My mother told many stories to my kids about Wino Willy, Teri, Fatboy, Les, and many others, as she aged these stories became more and more important to her, my regret she didn't read this book. My mom Doris Cook would of been so tickled to see this all in writing I can tell you that the boozefighters and the 13 rebels were a group of people having fun and working hard to take care of their families.
Thank you Bill Hayes for memoralizing these stories for future generations and letting this family know that grandma's stories were real (wooden legs and a police car, she was there).
2 people found this helpful
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Just a tad wild

This is not one of those books "you just can't put down". But it is a book you will keep coming back to because of its historical importance. The motorcycle subculture is explicated in detail from the mouths of its founders. This is California where all things crazy are possible.
2 people found this helpful
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Pretty boring and somewhat politically slanted

Loved Hunter S Thompson's Hell's Angels but couldn't even make it all the way through this. Narration is disjointed and boring and the author lets his political leanings infiltrate the subject. Reminded me of Abe Simpson bumbling through random life experiences.
1 people found this helpful
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Meh

I love motorcycle history. I like to know names, places, machines, who learned to do what when and how they did it. I love the tall tails, and the stories of insanity, rampaging, and imposable rides so I really should like this book. But I don't. It started with the forward, which is a painful piece of banal tripe about how "real" (read Harley) riders are the elite of the motorcycling and all the typical lifestyle garbage. But I figured that it was just the forward, and written by the editor of Easy Rider at that, so the rest must be better. And some of it is. Mostly the parts not written by Hayes, or where he lets someone else guide the story. The Lost Stories great, and the first hand accounts like the building of the first stroker are what I was hoping for in the book. Unfortunately it is shot through with a painfully melodramatic wistfulness and saccharine asides about the beauty of brotherhood which end up making to book feel less like the spiritual history of the quintessential outlaw club and more like a Norman Rockwell print. There are bits that are worth the slog, but it is just that, a slog.
1 people found this helpful
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A great read for those interested in the roots of the biker culture

I found this book to be an enthralling read for people interested in the birth of the biker culture. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found that I was unable to put this book down. I think this book is really designed for the reader that is a REAL BIKER, not some weekend cyclist. Of course, an interest in the BFMC is also necessary to enjoy the book. The thing that really ties the stories to the "real" world out there is the discussion of the media coverage of the 1947 Hollister "riot". The thing that stuck with me most was when the author relates how, due to the media, the BFMC started a new culture (the 1% biker) that they were never really a part of.
1 people found this helpful
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"A drinking club with a motorcycle problem"

Read folklore of an original motorcycle club. These Booze Fighters were real Americans with a passion for riding, racing, and having a good time. They were not criminals really, they were just folks that enjoyed living on the edge of two wheeled performance machines of their time. The Vincent Black Shadow was the machine of speedsters in their day. Great read, nice people.
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Going back to the Biker roots!

This is a good book. Details the history and birth of one of the oldest motorcycle clubs in this country, the booze fighters. The book was so good that it actually led me to look up the local chapter of the Boozefighters and meet them. Who knows? I might become a prospect!

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