COLORADO COUPLE WINS "WARRIOR" BIKE.
Custom motorcycle raises $200,000; benefit auction adds $5,800
CRAZY HORSE MEMORIAL – Trailer it home or leave it where it’s at?
A Colorado couple is weighing options after winning “Warrior,” the custom Crazy Horse Memorial motorcycle.
They likely won’t ride it home to Avon, Colo., from the Black Hills, Brenda Bober said by phone on Saturday. “I don’t think so. I’m not sure we’re ready to do that.”
Crazy Horse President-CEO Ruth Ziolkowski and Deb Martin of Elite Custom Motorcycles, who gave the bike, drew the winning ticket on Saturday. Entry No. 04399 belonged to Andy Bober.
He is an architect, his wife is a children’s librarian. They own a motorcycle, a tradition in her family dating to when her grandfather had a motorcycle dealership in St. Louis.
Despite their interest in biking, they’ve not yet seen their new 2005 custom softail. Andy Bober said they read about the bike and the drawing last spring, and saw it as a chance to contribute to the nonprofit memorial. Their $50 for three tickets netted them a one-of-a-kind bike valued at $26,755.
About 100 people attending drawing ceremonies watched and listened as moderator Sid Goss, a Crazy Horse director, called the Bobers at their home. The audience erupted with laughter and applause when Brenda Bober squealed, “Did we win the bike?”
Interest and competition for that honor was keen. In the year since Martin’s Prescott Valley, Ariz., company gave the custom bike for a raffle drawing, more than 13,000 tickets sold. And more than a third of those sales occurred in the last week as crowds packed the memorial during the annual Black Hills motorcycle rally.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful bike,” Ruth Ziolkowski told the crowd. “We’re going to hate to see it go.”
Sales generated more than $200,000 for the nonprofit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. A benefit auction Saturday garnered another nearly $5,800. Items belonging to Crazy Horse founder, the late Korczak Ziolkowski, accounted for $2,000.
Proceeds from the drawing and auction will fund Crazy Horse projects, including work on the world’s largest mountain carving and scholarships for Native American students.
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