Rick Petko is a motorbike lover and an enthusiast for making them. You may know him as one of the main characters in a show called American Chopper.
Early life:
He was born on the 11th September of 1968 in America and this makes him a Virgo. He was born in Bath Count, where he is originally from, in Pennsylvania and he had a really nice childhood.
He grew up watching movies about motorcycles and he was specially intrigued by the old ones he saw that were being remade by an artist.
Petko always knew who he wanted to be and which career should he choose. Since he started to ride mini bikes in his childhood, he developed a sense for vehicles. He progressed to larger and more powerful ones while he was growing up: first go karts, then three wheelers, then four wheelers and then dirt bikes. In the end, he managed to get a Harley – a vehicle that is every bike enthusiast’s dream.
Career development:
Petko didn’t become famous overnight and the talent he has today has been worked on for a while. He started out work in a company called Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania and he worked there for five years.
He decided to relocate after working for the Hooters Pro Cup team since he wanted a new surrounding. He then moved and started to work at OCC whose owner, Paul teutul Sr., is now in very good connections with Petko.
His famous part of career started on the day that he signed to a reality TV company which wanted him to be a star in a show called American Chopper.
This TV show is about him, a famous fabricator of motorcycles. He worked for a company that specialised in making this type of vehicles and they were called Orange Country Choppers (OCC). The reason why this company earns so much money is the fact that they take custom offers, which is rare, and they earn a nice amount of cash per vehicle because of it.
However, Petko didn’t just become famous overnight because he worked for this company. He was always the most hard-working employee they had and he earned a special spot in the owner’s heart.
The show did end in 2010 (during February), but Petko didn’t get any less famous since now he has more job than ever. A huge amount of people heard about him through the company and the reality TV show so he has been getting lots of offers to make expensive vehicles lately.
The most famous project that Petko had during the OCC phase was the POW/MIA bike which was talked about a lot amongst the enthusiasts.
There have been rumours that claimed that Petko left OCC a short time before the show ended, around September of year 2011. People also claimed that he opened his own shop in Stroudsburg where he was supposed to be customizing old bikes.
However, people assumed this because they thought he would like to earn more money since he became much better known. The truth is, Petko never left the company, he just started to work more on his side projects that were a way of expression rather than something he had to do.
Another rumour says that he started to work for Paul Jr. Design (owned by Paul Teutul Jr.) but this one hasn’t been addressed.
The spin off of the show, which started to air in 2010, is called American Chopper: Senior vs Junior and it shows how there is a huge fight between the two companies owned by relatives.
In the end, Petko really did get exhausted by the constant tension that he was seeing at work and decided to pair up with Jim and Linda Schlier, a famous couple that owns a Harley-Davidson dealership. This gave Petko the opportunity to create his own show just like he wanted to. This happened in 2016.
Personal life:
He has always been a fan of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) and he used to watch car races a lot during his teens.
He has a wife called Brittany Petko and she is an entrepreneur. He has two children, both female, called: Everly Rose and Lucy Mae.
He said that his family played a big role in his abandoning of OCC. He wanted to have a workplace closer to home and his little children.
He got married with Lucy in 2012 (during May) and this was an event that was also shown on American Chopper.
He prefers to call himself an artist rather than a repairsman or a motorcycle maker since he enjoys creating and re-making, not producing. It is his form of expression.
Quick summary
Full name: Rick Petko
Date of birth: 11th September of 1968
Birthplace: Bath County
Age: 49
Profession: artist, motorcycle maker
Height: NA
Weight: NA
Net Worth: $1.75 million
