Feature The Arts

and

Maureen Byko Figure 1. Monster Garage star Jesse James.

Editor’s Note: A hypertext-enhanced version of this article is programs that feature craftsmanship the tattoos covering James’ forearms, the available on-line at www.tms.org/pubs/journals/JOM/0310/Byko- 0310.html. and competition. Along the way, they knit cap pulled down over his eyebrows, INTRODUCTION might learn a bit about science—Yera- or the seemingly gruff demeanor. zunis said his program offers “stealth “For the most part, people put In the offi ce he’s William Yerazunis, science”—pick up an idea or two for aside whatever prejudices they might PhD. On the Junkyard Mega-Wars a new tattoo, and perhaps come to have had,” said Rusty Franklin of the set, he’s Crash, team captain and self- appreciate the skill that goes into creating American Welding Society. “They were proclaimed nerd. Yerazunis, who works projects as ordinary as motorcycles or as looking at the skill and the accomplish- as a research scientist at Mitsubishi odd as scrap-metal submarines. ment. It didn’t matter if he had a zillion Electric Research Laboratories, is a A MONSTER HIT tattoos, a whole bunch of earrings, and regular on the The Learning Channel body piercings; from the perspective (TLC)’s Junkyard Mega-Wars, a pro- At the annual meeting of the American of welding and joining metals he does gram in which two teams compete to Welding Society (AWS) in April, the relate to the youth of today.” build a vehicle from discarded materials. star was not the laser welding equipment Jesse James (distantly related to the This show and others like it have become or fl ashy robotic products. Instead, men wild-west outlaw of the same name) was a trend in cable: reality TV with sparks in suits and hardhats, young and old, already legendary among motorcycle fl ying, machinery whining, and, on most lined up at the ESAB Welding and enthusiasts when he was discovered days, creativity fl ourishing. Cutting Products booth to meet Jesse by , executive producer Television audiences are fi ckle, so James, star of the ’s of Monster Garage. In 2001, Beers the trend may soon go the way of Monster Garage and hero of the welding wanted to create a special program the battling robots that were a cable world. Some brought welding gloves to about custom motorcycle builders and phenomenon a few years ago. For now, be signed, others carried their meeting was looking for a star with the right mix though, viewers can choose from several programs. No one seemed bothered by of personality and craftsmanship. When

12 JOM • October 2003

BYKO Feature 12 9/23/03, 4:25 PM he met James, he stopped looking. Beers created Motorcycle Mania starring James at work in his California Figure 2. An old NASCAR shop, , where he racecar is transformed into shapes metal into one-of-a-kind bikes a speedy street sweeper on for a client list that includes athletes and Monster Garage. celebrities. The program was an instant success. “The numbers were just huge,” Beers said. “In the fi rst one (which was soon followed by Motorcycle Mania 2) Jesse hand-built a tank from scratch. When that fi lm aired everyone couldn’t stop talking about it. That’s what told me people are fascinated with real craftsmen.” Beers decided to tap that Figure 3. A school bus that audience with the Monster Garage was transformed into a pon- toon boat fl oats on Monster series (Figure 1). Each week, a group Garage. of mechanically inclined people joined James in a garage to convert a conven- tional vehicle into something new and odd: a sport utility vehicle became a garbage truck; a racecar was changed into a street sweeper (Figure 2). There was a time limit, a budget, and numerous shots of James applying power tools and imagination to the challenge of the week. Figure 4. A Junkyard Wars The teams were carefully assembled to team prepares to compete. combine particular abilities. “We usually look for skills associated with each of the builds,” Beers said. “Everybody’s got to have welding skills, everybody’s got to have fabricating skills.” Although college degrees are not necessary for success, problem-solving skills are jobs are not good-paying jobs, they’re an incredibly skilled welder,” Franklin essential. “Some of the engineering feats not necessarily skilled jobs, they’re said. “He’s driven by his creativity are extraordinary,” Beers said. dirty,” Franklin said. The committee and skill.” Again, Beers found a formula with created television commercials remind- During his appearance at the American an eager audience and the series in ing viewers of the value of welding in Welding Society show, James took time September launched its second season. everyday life, but when cable television to visit some highly impressed trade- “Every week we get three million programs began to showcase metal school students who were participating homes that tune in,” he said. “That’s crafting, the profession received a in a welding competition. “He’s an great for cable.” And, it turns out, great publicity boost that was like a gift to awesome designer and an amazing for the welding profession. the committee. “Those shows portray fabricator,” said Miles Tilley of Ann BUILDING A BETTER IMAGE a very positive image,” Franklin said. Arbor, Michigan. Both James and “Both those shows demonstrate that Franklin believe that schools need to The creative shows on cable, espe- even non-welders are fascinated by the place more emphasis on the kinds of cially Monster Garage and Junkyard skill set of those people and how creative skills James was taught in high school Mega-Wars, have attracted the kind of they can be in producing whatever shop classes. Both think his popularity attention of which the AWS’s Image of their task is.” could help lure students back into such Welding Committee could only have The appeal of shows such as Monster classes. “I get a lot of e-mails from shop dreamed. The committee was formed Garage, Franklin believes, comes not teachers,” James said. The teachers tell several years ago, said Chairman Rusty with the fi nal product, but with the him their classes were half full before Franklin, after a media report that process of creating it, although, as Monster Garage went on the air. “Now, welding ranked as one of the ten worst shown in Figure 3, the end results are their classes are full,” he said. jobs in America. eye-catching. Beers said a nonprofi t organization “There is a perception that welding As for James himself, “the guy is is being planned to benefi t high school

2003 October • JOM 13

BYKO Feature 13 9/23/03, 4:25 PM JESSE JAMES BRINGS MANUFACTURING TO THE MAINSTREAM acquaintances created a video, as required by TLC, demonstrating their He’s been featured in Fortune magazine. He’s been named one of People magazine’s sexiest men. But Jesse James reached a professional pinnacle in April when he was engineering know-how and creativity. In presented the American Welding Society’s Golden Helmet Award. The award, he said, their tape, they assembled a crude super- meant more to him than being named one of 2002’s favorite sexy guys. Those honors fade sized sewing machine from garage quickly, he said. “Welding is forever.” odds and ends. Each of the team Before fi nding fame on television, James was well known among motorcycle fanatics for his custom-built bikes, which sold for prices starting at $55,000 and reaching into six members powered a component of the fi gures. “I didn’t plan for it,” James said of his following. “I was just trying to make a machine. They gave themselves a clever cool bike for myself.” name—the New England Rubbish Thom Beers, executive director of Monster Deconstruction Society, or Nerds—and Garage, was impressed by James’ skills in the won a spot in Junkyard Wars. The team garage and believed the viewing public would be, too. When Beers developed the idea for had a successful run, winning their Monster Garage, he taped four episodes with challenge and subsequent semi-fi nal James leading a construction crew through rounds, but losing in the fi nal chal- oddball projects that showcased imagination lenge. Among the projects the team and mechanical ability. “I didn’t know if anyone constructed were a mini-submarine, a was going to like it,” James said of the pilot. Viewers did like it, and the Discovery Channel, steam-powered car, and a dragster. which earned its place as a cable television For the fall 2003 season, Yerazunis ratings leader more on programming about was invited back as one of two captains wildlife than metal working, found a new niche who, in a change from Junkyard tradi- with males who appreciated James’ talents and tions, each week choose a team from females who appreciated his looks (Figure A). “Men want to be him,” Beers said, “and women selected candidates and compete in a want to be with him” challenge. Yerazunis is promoted as James is modest about his success—“I’ve the brainy team leader versus a more always been a better welder than a businessman,” brawny opponent, Richard Munsen, he said. But his high school history tells a known as Bowser. The captains are different story. James, now 33, started welding at 12, and within a few years was marketing his given a construction assignment, such as skills in shop class. Figure A. Jesse James, motorcycle builder, a snowmobile or rock-crawling vehicle. “I used to take everybody’s welding test for Monster Garage star, sex symbol. The captains decide what to build and $10 apiece,” James said. what types of parts they will need, and Over the years, he’s learned all kinds of welding—tungsten inert gas, steam-injected then each meets with Greg Bryant, the gas turbine, metal inert gas, and even underwater. The most challenging work he’s done is seamless welding of copper. He now has that technique mastered and is building a show’s technical advisor. Bryant, who is bike made entirely of polished copper. an engineer, helps fi ne-tune the designs. His most diffi cult job, James said, was when he worked in a Seattle shipyard, welding Next, the captains select a team and an aluminum bulkhead, standing outside, “knee-deep in ice water,” sparks all around begin construction. him as he tried to maneuver in tight quarters. Those days appear to be over. Now, in the To build his team, Yerazunis looked comfort of his newly expanded shop, he’s building a concept bike for Honda, starring on a weekly television show, and has built bikes for basketball’s Shaquille O’Neal, rock star for specifi c skills depending on the Kid Rock, and Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Shawn Jefferson. project. Someone who has built things After his time in the spotlight is over, when bike-loving celebrities forget his name, before was always an asset. All the team James will always have his skills and experience to fall back on. members needed to have construction “I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that if I lose my job, I can always be a $25 an hour welder,” he said. experience—the set was equipped with plasma cutters, oxy-acetylene torches, shop classes, which face budget cuts in The current Junkyard Mega-Wars and metal inert gas and tungsten inert many school districts. Tentatively called program debuted in August. Throughout gas welding equipment, along with the Jesse James Fund for Industrial Arts, the program’s evolution, the engineering common hand tools, and everyone the organization will auction, on-line, challenges have been consistently was needed to join in and build with items such as Monster Garage vehicle daunting—teams have recycled materi- them. Someone with knowledge of auto parts and autographed tools. als into creations that have flown, mechanics on a wide variety of vehicles MAKING A SUCCESS OUT hovered, and fl oated, all under a ten- was a bonus, along with a capable OF JUNK hour construction deadline (Figure 4). welder, but not necessarily of the type Bill Yerazunis, who started on the show who builds buildings or cars. “Almost When Monster Garage debuted in as a competitor and this year is a half of our ace welders are not structural 2002, Junkyard Wars already had a regular as a team captain, said he is welders, they’re industrial artists who solid following dating back to its debut always impressed with the unusual spend 18 to 20 hours in the studio on U.S. television in 1999. The show solutions people fi nd to their problems. making something that’s beautiful that’s evolved from a British program called “Everybody has a spark of genius in going to last for 50 years,” Yerazunis Scrapheap Challenge, in which two them,” he said. said (Figure 5). teams built an assigned project using To win a spot on the show, Yerazunis Ivan McLean, a member of the Big materials scavenged from a junkyard. and several mechanically minded Shots team from an earlier season, was

14 JOM • October 2003

BYKO Feature 14 9/23/03, 4:25 PM just such an artist. McLean, who works as a metal sculptor, was drawn to the competition and creativity of Junkyard Wars. “I think we all have a common love, this feel for metals,” he said of the Figure 5. Junkyard Mega- show’s participants. Wars captain Bill “Crash” Yerazunis shares his exper- CULTIVATING NEW tise. CRAFTSMEN Greg Bryant has experience in making learning palatable, even fun. The techni- cal expert on Junkyard Mega-Wars, who is an engineer, started his career as a junior-college physics teacher. His students were less than enthusiastic about the subject, and Bryant was Figure 6. Paul Teutul, Jr. demonstrates his skills on determined to relate physics to the , a Dis- world those students knew. covery Channel program “Keeping them interested and moti- about custom-motorcycle- building. vated was the biggest challenge, trying to make physics something real for them in everyday life,” he said. “Like for the young men, trying to explain to them about the latent heat of fusion of ice and relate that to how much ice you bought of that,” he said. “But it also has people took the differential out of a car and built to cool down a case of beer. If you can trying to make decisions based on their own winch. “It was an ingenious, get them hooked slightly like that and things they have, and sometimes, most extremely effective design,” Bryant translate these technical concepts into importantly, things that they don’t and said. “Arguably more effective than the things they see and use every day, then they have to use an ingenious solution one they actually wanted to use, and that it becomes much more realistic to them. to work around the problem.” happens quite often on the show.” Even though sometimes it doesn’t seem Bryant qualifi es as a Junkyard Mega- Yerazunis believes Junkyard Wars like they’re learning they actually are Wars expert based on his experience and offers a positive message for both adults understanding the phenomena around education—he was formerly employed and children. “When you get right down them on a daily basis.” Bryant looks for Walt Disney’s “Imagineering” team, to it it’s stealth science education,” he at Junkyard Mega-Wars the same which performed engineering for the said. “It motivates self learning, and way. “Certainly it’s about entertaining Walt Disney Company. He still works as that’s the best way to learn; there’s people, but just by watching it you will a ride compliance engineer for Universal no penalty if you fail but the win is understand more about technical matters Studios. tremendous, if you learn it for yourself than you did had you not watched it, but Although the TV junkyard is mostly because you chose to.” you won’t even realize it.” He points stocked with items collected from area Yerazunis does not see the same to an episode in which the teams had scrap yards, Bryant makes sure that benefi t in Monster Garage. “They built to build a hovercraft out of junkyard specifi c items can be salvaged from a donut fryer in the back of a police car,” materials. “People that watched the materials in the junkyard. Even when he said. “Someone’s going to watch hovercraft show . . . may not have those items are supplied, though, there’s them and they’re going to be amused, known you can drive vehicles around no guarantee they will end up with the but they’re not going to be motivated.” on a cushion of air or how a hovercraft intended team. “Sometimes the other He has more appreciation for other worked. It was a very entertaining show team will get it and they’ll have to fabricating shows proliferating on cable but people came away with a clearer come up with a substitute,” Bryant now, such as Discovery’s American understanding of what was required to said. “That’s when the show gets really Chopper, in which a father and son make a hovercraft work.” creative.” For example, when taping an build motorcycles, piece by piece Bryant compares the lessons taught episode for the current season, one of (Figure 6). on Junkyard Mega-Wars to those taught teams needed to make a winch to crank “These guys are doing art with in the old Mr. Wizard science program. up a rope, and there was a certain type metals,” he said. “Mr. Wizard would do these fascinat- that had been stocked for them in the ing experiments that were almost junkyard. Their opponents found it, magic—Junkyard Wars is an evolution though, and the team members then Maureen Byko is managing editor of JOM.

2003 October • JOM 15

BYKO Feature 15 9/23/03, 4:25 PM