You see, in the technical school environment there are many challenges, time being one of them. Darin was not convinced and questioned Tom about the level of professionalism needed to build a bike for such a prestigious company. After two successful school builds, Tom wanted to do another one, and upon meeting the Mitchell Tech crew at a car and motorcycle show in Rapid City he was sure they were a good fit. In the OldBook™ Cover Bike project he gets to really show the riding public what can be done with the goods they serve up in the OldBook™. And this project is the pinnacle of that. Tom’s done so many of these at this point that you might think he’d just run it like another day at the office, but if you know Tom then you know how passionate he is about motorcycles. To get the scoop on this project I called up long time friend and the man himself from Drag Specialties, Tom Motzko. He wasn’t sure if he had the goods to be a teacher for MTI, but year after year his him. He actually worked for a John Deere dealership for 25 years repairing tractors but after that company went through a reorganization he decided to heed the advice of his wife and look into another career. Their instructor at Mitchell Tech is Darin Maltsberger, a self-titled tractor mechanic. Many of these students will go onto careers as shop technicians, fabricators and painters through the skills they acquired from this program. It was only back in 2008 that the institute began offering their Power Sports Technology Program which was basically a motorcycle class, but in that short time it has evolved into a highly respected class on mechanical skills and fabrication. They are ranked among the top 10 percent of two-year schools in the nation based on a 98% job placement with their more than 15,000 graduates in the history of the school. Mitchell Tech is located in Mitchell South Dakota and was founded in 1968. Now I don’t want to give you the wrong impression that this was something that was just given to Mitchell Tech, not by a long shot, they earned this. Makes me proud to do business with this company and to feature this bike. They could pick any big name builder in the world, any of them would be happy to put in for this project but they choose to reach down and help the next generation up. ![]() ![]() I can’t say enough about Drag’s decision to reach out with an opportunity like this. This year Drag Specialties reached out to the kids at the Mitchell Technical Institute to do the deal for the cover and they came up with is the little beauty you see before you here. ![]() We have tried each year to be the magazine that scores the right to show the world what they have on the cover and who the featured builder is, or in this case builders that created it. Since the first cover that featured Kevin “Teach” Baas and the kids of Kennedy High School’s Chopper Class build from Drag Specialties parts. Since Drag Specialties started their Old Book offering, which is their collection of parts to suit the shovel, pan and knuckle crowd, we have been big fans. From Our July 14 Issue we bring to you the Old Book Bike from Mitchell TechĪrticle By: Chris Callen Photos Courtesy Of: Edge Advertising, Plymouth, MN
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