Wall of Death - History of the Wall

"Indian Larry He was my Friend"

The Horse Backstreet Choppers

By BIG CHRIS CONDON

As I sit down to write this so many things flood into my mind. Images and memories of rides and times spent with my friend. I feel very fortunate to have known Larry on a personal level. To me he was the greatest bike builder on the planet. I don't just say that because I knew the man. He was a genius when it came to motorcycles. What made him extra special is that he was very, very humble and down to earth.

Larry had been building bikes his whole life and right up till the end he was always trying new components and refining his ideas. I could walk around his bikes for hours in awe and compliment him on another amazing, mind blowing creation and he would just shrug his shoulders in typical Larry fashion and say, "It's just a motorcycle Chris."

He was very modest and sincere. I remember entering my bike in a contest that Larry used to judge in Coney Island many years ago. I was a late entry and when I rolled up I thought I was too late. But Larry and Paul Cox allowed me to enter. I felt very proud when they picked my bike as the winner. It gave me a sense of great satisfaction knowing that a great bike builder like Larry would consider my bike worthy enough to win.

I became very friendly with him over the years. He was always a good friend to me. We didn't see each other all the time because of location and circumstance, But anytime we hung out was always a good time. He invited me to be on an episode of a T.V. program called Third Watch last year. He always invited me to go on the Discovery Channel rides with him We had plans of being in an upcoming movie about a friend of ours, Frankie Perrone, whose life story will be played by Vin Diesel.

The last few years I would hang out with him and the whole crew, Paul Cox, Keino (Larry's right hand man), Bobby and Elise Seeger (who are Larry's managers), Knucklehead Steve and Eddie at every major bike event in the country. Larry would always set up next to Billy Lane and we always had some good laughs with Billy and his crew. Through him I have met the greatest people in this industry and made friends with many of them. I often find it funny - and I know he did too - that people looked up to him as a hero of some sorts.

He was harmless, but crazy nonetheless. To see little kids come up and ask for his autograph was comical in a way. If their parents only knew how crazy he really was. As a bike builder myself, I looked up to him as a great builder and inspiration but as a person He was one crazy mutha. Down to earth as you could get. He had a very sick, twisted sense of humor, which is one reason we really got along.

Some people are not aware that Larry was missing a finger on one hand. Well, we would refer to that as, "the little fist." So, when someone would aggravate him we would always say they deserved a "little fisting."

He was a very funny guy and I had a lot of laughs with him over the years. Recently we were upon Laconia together, where he had some problems with the Rat Fink bike. He had blown a belt and he was very upset. The bike had to be shipped to Hawaii the next day and he didn't know what he was going to do. He couldn't find the belt he needed and was panicking. I told him not to worry that we would get it done. I had my friend Pete Viano with me and when we got the bike back to Pet's house, Pete made a few phone calls and located the belt and went to get it. Larry and I stayed back and worked on the bike. Well, we got the bike fixed and Larry was very grateful and turned to me and said, "Thanks, I don't know what I would have done without you guys. Hey Chris, when are you going to come work for me anyway, we have to get you on the payroll." To me that is the highest compliment I could get in the motorcycle world coming from Larry.

Before I actually met him, I had heard about him and seen his work around NY. We shared the same philosophy, that less is more. I always preferred shorter choppers to the long stretched out ones we saw in the 70's and that are common again today.

Larry helped to make that style popular in N.Y.C. He was very innovative and always looking to improve on his bikes. He struggled with his own personal demons for many years. But he was always on top of things when it came to the bikes. They were everything to Larry! He developed many parts that have been ripped off and copied because dealing with his own internal struggles and people would take advantage of him and his good nature.

After hearing about the tragedy, my good friend Joe, from Superior Motorcycle Parts, called me and told me he had a frame that Larry had built at least 15 years ago that Joe acquired - from all people - Fritz, who used to work for this mag when it was Iron Horse years ago. He told me he wanted me to have it since I was friends with Larry. I have an 89 inch cone Shovel I'm about to put together and a magneto nose cone that Larry made some parts for so I will build a bike in Larry's style and dedicate it to my friend.

As crazy and off the wall as he was, he had a boyish innocence about him. He had always been known around N.Y., but his more recent national exposure was difficult for him to accept. He was never cocky or conceited in any way. He really couldn't understand why everyone wanted to meet him. On the new Discovery bike, "Chain of Mystery" Larry thanked all of his sponsors on his tank and he also thanked God. When we were in Pittsburgh filming for the Discovery Channel, Craig the producer asked Larry about the reference to God and asked him who he thought God was. Larry shrugged his shoulders the way he always did and said, "How should I know, who really knows how God is, maybe I'm God?" He was only kidding, but looking back on it now I can tell you. Larry may not have been God of this universe, but he certainly is The Lord of the motorcycle world. The Ultimate Chopper God!

We were down in Daytona at Biketoberfest and he had a good crowd of fans, but his Discovery Build Off was about to air and I told him, the next time we come down here you will not be able to go anywhere without the fans swarming you. I don't think he realized how people put him on a pedestal. Wherever we went people thought I was his bodyguard and we had a running joke about me having to be put on the payroll. I would keep people away when he wanted some space.

When we returned in March my prediction came true. Larry had finally gotten the recognition he had deserved for many, many years. He and I took a ride to the Broken Spoke for the S&S party. He was not scheduled to be there; we just strolled in. Jay Allen got on the microphone and announced that I.L. was in the house and the crowd went wild. We rode our bikes right up to the front of the stage and the fans swarmed him. I think this was the first real glimpse Larry got of how much people loved him. He was very overwhelmed by the whole thing. We had to get out of there because they wouldn't leave him alone.

He lived in Manhattan, N.Y.C. and he didn't own a care or a house. He lived very simply. He rode his bike everywhere he went. When things finally started to break for him he said to me, "Chris, I have everything in life that I want. I just want the people around me to get what they want out of life. I don't need anything else. I have a great wife that loves me and supports what I do and I have my bikes. What else is there?" He was always thinking of the friends that surrounded him. He had finally put together a good crew that did the right thing by him. It was all coming together. For his whole life people sucked off of him and made money off his name and talents. It's sad that it took this long for things to pay off for him and now he's gone and won't even reap the benefits of a life's labor of what he has sown.

I have a very good friend, Grace Martini, who dated Larry for a while back in the early to mid '90's. Grace is still a very dear friend to me and to Bambi as well. They are the best of friends. Through Grace I became good friends with him and learned a lot by watching him refine his ideas over the years.

He always amazed me with the parts he made and the bikes he would build. To me Larry was way ahead of the pack in more than one way. He took his visions and made them reality. I have Grace's bike in my garage right now. Larry built is back in the Psycho Cycle's days. I'll have to feature it for you some day. It's a typical Larry bike. He told me, "I built that bike with whatever shit was lying around the shop." Well for a bike that was thrown together according to him, that fucker moves. 93 inches of pure hell on wheels! I take i out once in a while and you have to hold on for dear life!

That is what Larry did best. He made some pretty bikes, but before the flash went on, his heart and soul would go into the motor. None of the fancy shit you see people putting on their rides, just the basics.

I had the pleasure of spending the last 3 weeks of his life with him. Although I'm very sad and it was very hard to watch my friend go down, I'm very glad I got to be there with him on his final ride. It meant a lot to me that he had asked me up in Laconia if I was going to come on the next Discovery ride with him. I had to switch around my vacation time at work, but I told him I wouldn't miss it for the world.

We had a great time, great weather and met some great new friends like Mondo (from Denver Choppers) and his whole crew.

Larry rode hard was he always did. Pulling away from the pack at speeds of 120 plus! One thing about Larry, his bikes were finished nice, but they were also built to ride and he pounded the shit out of all his bikes. I had just finished putting together my new 88 inch Panhead and was breaking it in. What a way to break in your new ride trying to keep up with that maniac all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Charlotte, North Carolina!

He rode fast and hard and made no excuses. He live his life the way he wanted to and never meant harm to anyone. He was a true friend, a humble and sincere man and the best bike builder we've ever seen.

He will always be one of the few people in this world that I admire and look up to because he gave of himself always and expected nothing in return. I only hope that he can look down and see the impact that he has made on motorcycling.

There is a huge void in our world now; we have lost one of the greatest builders and riders of our time. Larry, I know you're out there somewhere, and whether you're riding through a fiery pit or surfing on a cloud, don't ever rest in peace my friend, keep riding hard and fast, it's the only way you knew how!

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"Driving Himself Up a Wall"
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