Pudge first met the guys of BOSS, that’s Ball of Steel Stunts, last March in Harrisburg at the Farm Show Complex during the Motorcycle, ATV and Personal Watercraft show. He presented to them the idea of doing a feature story all about the BOSS family, and they loved it. After seeing them two more times since then, and really getting a chance to know them better, here is that story!

BOSS is a family from Texas that travels the country, riding their motorcycles and dirtbikes, having a blast. The three riders that are currently performing in the show are Brandon Landers, 19, Preston Landers, 18, and Dusty Hipps, 20. Cheyne Wedgeworth, 24, aka Skeeter, is the high-energy announcer for the team, and Johnny Landers, father to the Landers boys, is the road manager, traveling with them all the time, making sure that all of the shows go smoothly. When they took the show on the road in 1997, Brandon was 12 and Preston was only 10. At that time, they were considered the youngest stunt riders in the world.

When you go to see a BOSS show, you get a full package of entertainment. Skeeter gets the crowd really pumped up in the beginning, yelling and cheering for lots of action, and then keeps them that way throughout the show. I haven’t seen any show yet where their 120-foot long spectator area hasn’t been packed with kids and parents, both trying to get a great view of the guys performing. In fact, they performed at the CycleWorld show that was in New York City last year, but I never even saw them because of the fifteen rows of people that blocked the view.

Warming up in the beginning of the show, the guys do wheelies and freestyle ramp tricks. Heading inside the ball, two of the riders start out on their bikes, circling the walls and running parallel to the ground. They start out with this set so that any chance of having a black out or tunnel vision passes. Once they have made sure that they are able to ride safely, they start the part of their show that gets the audience really pumped up - going everywhere and every which way inside this steel cage, including riding completely upside down. Following each other so closely and at such high speeds, they only focus on the rider that is in front of them - apparently, you don’t even get dizzy from this! So, when the guys are going ‘round and ‘round inside the ball, how do they know when to stop and come down? One of the guys is the lead guy, and even though it doesn’t seem like it, they are able to hear each other inside there, so that when one person yells “DOWN”, they all stop and go down.