Member Takes Hobby To Extreme Heights

September 2004 IBEW Journal

Local 22 member Harold Waddell flies through timing lights in a winning ride earlier this year in Tracy, California.

Before he could drive a car, or even walk, Local 22 member Harold Waddell was riding a motorcycle around the Nebraska hills.

"My grandpa built me a special motorcycle out of my great-great grandmothers washing machine, a 3/4-horsepower Briggs and Stratton," said Waddell. "That was when it all started."

It was 21 years ago, when his father taught his toddler son "hill climbing," the extreme sport that requires flying up a mountain on a two-wheeled engine faster than the rest. Today he is near the top of the professional circuit, winning competitions across the country, and earning one of 10 American slots for participation in his first international competition in September.

A fifth-year wireman apprentice, Waddell squeezes his avocation in with his tradecraft in Omaha, Nebraska, where he works for Miller Electric.

But in his spare time, the four-time American Motorcyclist Association champion travels the country running courses that range between 300 to 1,000 feet in elevation. With timing lights at the bottom and at the top, contestants on 200-horsepower motorcycles vie for the fastest time to the top. On the way are obstacles like jumps, ledges and cliffs taking between four seconds to a full minute to run.