The Globe of Death. More than just a thrill show, a 100 year old legend continues with lessons in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) Story & photos by Tom Rose

           Matias Martinez with his Yamaha at the Globe

The show begins with a roar as the Yamaha 125 cc dirt bike comes to life...As GLOBE of DEATH rider Matias Martinez accelerates the steel globe shutters, rattles and vibrates. He circles inside the globe, weaving from side to side, up and down, upside down and over the top. The crowd stands in awe and disbelief of the death-defying performance.

Matias rides the Globe!

The GLOBE of DEATH began in circuses and carnivals over 100 years ago and the legendary show continues today with Martinez as the headline rider.  I caught up with the creator of this spectacular current edition at the Lake County Fair in April 2022.  Matias Martinez is keeping this legendary circus act alive and thriving. Martinez is the owner of the show and the featured rider in the globe. They tour the country 11 months a year entertaining thousands at fairs, circuses and festivals. Matias often rides in the globe 3 or 4 times a day.  It’s a long season of set ups, performing, tear down and traveling on to the next event. They travel as a family and they love it. When there is time between shows they like to do some local sightseeing. Here in Central Florida, they visited NASA Kennedy Space Center. Their one month off the road home is in Dallas, Ga.

Martinez is well on his way to becoming a legend in his own right. He is 37 years old and a 5th generation circus performer. His wife Jamie serves as the master of ceremonies for their show. They have a 3-year-old son, Charles. His family were circus performers in their home country of Argentina and throughout South America. His father never performed in the globe but learned it for fun and as a backup for the family Globe of Death show. They first migrated to Mexico and then in 1994 to the United States when Matias was 9 years old. He had cousins who rode the globe and, on a family visit they taught his younger brother who in turn taught Matias. He credits his father with giving him advice and tips that have kept him from any serious accidents or injuries as a thrill rider. The most important one, “never get comfortable, always expect something to go wrong”. He began performing around the country with a rented globe but some 10 years ago designed and built the 14 ft diameter globe currently used in his show.  

My appreciation for the Globe of Death goes back to the mid 60's when I met one of the legendary pioneers of the globe, Louis "Speedy" Babbs. Babbs was wintering off season in Stuart, Fl where I was living at the time.

    Speedy Babbs with his Triumph 500 Twin

I visited with him on numerous occasions and listened to his stories of his thrill show adventures which began in the early 1920's. Born in 1905 he started doing motorcycle stunts, airplane wing walking and parachuting in shows and for the movies in the late 1920’s. In 1929 Babbs began riding a motorcycle in the Wall of Death show at a California amusement park. He toured the country with the Wall of Death show for the next 20 years. Around 1950 he acquired a contraption known as the Globe of Death, a 16 foot diameter steel mesh ball. He performed motorcycle stunts inside the Globe of Death until he retired 20years later.

Although Speedy died in 1976 it’s a fitting tribute to his legacy that the tradition continues with Martinez's show. That’s why I was so excited when I walked into the Lake

County Fair and found the globe show right there on the midway. I had to meet the globe rider...the guy that was carrying on the century old tradition of the Globe of Death!

Speedy Babbs prepares to ride the Globe of Death

The Globe of Death is a part of a great entertaining and exciting show known as the Adventures in Space Thrill Show. The show has a scientific theme with the laws of physics and centrifugal force coming into play. The highlight is Matias’s globe ride on his 125cc Yamaha Dirt Bike. Worked into the show is a 2nd motorcycle circling the Globe on the outside at the “equator” along with a trapeze artist. Don’t miss it when it comes to your town. 

Adventures in Space Thrill Show

The Wall of Death-Part II

The Wall of Death - American Motor Drome Co. - "a motorcycle thrill show caught in a time warp!"- (Leesburg Bikefest – April 2015), story and photos by motorsport journalist Tom Rose 

note: I first wrote about the Wall of Death in 2008 and that article can be found elsewhere in this blog and in the Oct 2008 issue of Road Bike Magazine

The Wall of Death is a motorcycle thrill show that began appearing at traveling carnivals and fairs about 100 years ago. The riders perform on the inside vertical wall of a large wooden barrel. Spectators view the show from a platform around the top of the barrel, looking down into the barrel to see the show.

Author H.G. Wells published his science fiction classic The Time Machine in 1895. Through the novel and later the movie millions became captivated by the idea time travel. Of course, the whole premise is just as categorized, “science fiction”.   However, the idea is indeed intriguing. There are a few instances where it is actually possible to go back to an earlier time and relive history.






Jay Lightnin' Bentley tells the story of his
American Motor Drome Co.

I had the unique opportunity for time travel at the 2015 Leesburg Bikefest, drifting back through the past 100 years talking with Jay “Lightnin’ Bentley about his American Motor Drome Company and the Wall of Death. The show has not changed. It is the same show your father and grandfather saw at the traveling carnivals of the 20s, 30s and 40s. It is the same 1928 101 Indian Scout motorcycle. The same wooden barrel motor drome. A real live time capsule right there in Leesburg, FL. A motorcycle thrill show caught in a time warp!

Jay Lightnin’ Bentley began riding the wall with traveling carnivals over 45 years ago. After 25 years riding for other shows Jay decided it was time to go into business for himself. He took out a 2^nd mortgage to buy materials and went to work in his back yard. His neighbors thought he was building an ark.  No plans or blueprints, it was all in his head. The primary material is Douglas fir. It took 2 years but from Jay’s dream and hard work the American Motor Drome Co. was born.

Once completed Jay took the show on the road to bike shows, fairs, carnivals and race tracks. Crossing the continent keeping the tradition alive. Jay puts 2 riders on the wall at the same time, crisscrossing, requiring the ultimate in skill, precision and concentration.  He used have 3 riders on the wall but a tragic accident resulted in the death of a rider and Jay cut the 3^rd rider from his shows. “Too dangerous!” says Jay. Over the years there have been accidents and injuries to riders. Wall of Death riders are not eligible for insurance. Bentley maintains a fund for injured riders financed by donations from spectators. During the show riders race within inches of the top of the wall and pluck donations for the fund from the hands of spectators in their teeth! He has been at it with his wall for some 20 years now. It is a dieing from of entertainment. His American Motor Drome is one of only 2 that work full time. In total only 4 such shows exist (once there were over 40).  

 

“We’re here to keep the Wall of Death tradition alive. When old timers show up with kids and grandkids memories are made that will last a lifetime. That’s why we are here. That is why we do it. To preserve history and let the youngsters of today see just what it was like in the 20s at the county fair.” Jay Lightnin’ Bentley

And that’s the way it was in Leesburg last week-end. Among all the rock bands, bikinis,  tattoo artists, and Harley-Davidsons…..Jay Bentley’s American Motor Drome time warp, a history lesson, physics class (centrifugal force) and a very entertaining thrill show all for on $5.00 ticket. Long live The Wall of Death!