Full Throttle Saloon

So a Guy Walks into a Bar...

Michael Ballard
Owner of the Full Throttle Saloon

"Most bars are segregated by age. You have the dance club for young guys or the country club for the older fellas. Not at the Full Throttle."

What kind of place is the Full Throttle Saloon?

The Full Throttle is the number one blue collar biker bar in the United States. Everyone is welcome, but it's well known that factory workers, construction workers and any kind of guy who busts his ass and saves his money all year is gonna be welcome at the Throttle.

When is the Full Throttle Open?

We're only open during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, which takes place in the first couple weeks of August, so we open the doors around mid July.

If I was coming to the Sturgis Rally for the First time, what would you recommend that I do?

During the day, you'd have to ride to the Black Hills, go to Deadwood, see Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument and Devils Tower. At night, you come back to town, hit the campgrounds and party at the Full Throttle.

How much beer do you go through at the Full Throttle?

We get about 15,000 people a night. They go through a lot of beer. We get two tractor trailers full of beer delivered every night of the rally. The beer companies know by now that there are so many motorcycles clogging the roads, they can't send trucks during the day, so they come after 3:00 AM, when the bars have closed.

Tell me a bit about Angie. What does she bring to the Full Throttle experience?

Angie is my girlfriend and helps me all around my life, 360 degrees. She is an amazing woman. She also runs Angieland, which is this special bar with a waist-high deck. Angie has this real sculptured behind and the bikers love it, so she'll take pictures with her sitting on their heads. It's not at all trashy; it's totally classy.

What makes the Full Throttle different from other bars?

You get such a range of people coming in. Most bars are segregated by age. You have the dance club for young guys or the country club for the older fellas. Not at the Full Throttle. It's common to see a 21-year-old guy sitting and having a beer with another guy old enough to be his granddad, and they both have riding motorcycles in common. It's a real cool thing.

I noticed in the show that your bar has some pretty specific rules against showing certain parts of the body. Who is in charge of determining exactly how much skin the bartenders are allowed to show off?

The county regulates all ordinances for nudity. Sturgis is a complete ranch community, and they are very conservative. It's what America used to be like up there, so they don't want strip clubs year-round.

For me, my business completely relies on a liquor license, and they sold a new one recently for five hundred thousand dollars. They'd love to be able to cancel one and sell it to someone else at those prices. Obviously, all of my business is dependent on alcohol sales, so we have to walk the straight line. You see a lot of nudity at the rally, but I can't allow it from my people.

What kind of nudity have you seen at the rally?

I've seen a lot. Girls flashing, topless women on a mechanical bull. I saw a bunch of topless women riding a zipline once. I once saw a crowd developing in a corner of a bar, and three strippers had just set up shop on a bale of hay. Just dancing, stripping and charging for lapdances.

Do you ever see any poseurs, guys who want to be bikers but just don't fit in?

There are a lot of poseurs out there. Most of them wearing brand new leather coats. That's how you can pick them out. The real bikers have jackets that have been broken in over the years.

What do you do the rest of the year?

Angie and I travel together and promote the Full Throttle. It's a year round business for me and Angie.

How much do your bartenders earn?

Anywhere from up to eight thousand to ten thousand dollars in a week if she really hustles.