What is Michael Ballard's net worth?
Michael Ballard is an American bar owner and motorcyclist who has a net worth $10 million. Michael Ballard is probably most famous for being the owner of the Full Throttle Saloon, which is the self-described "world's largest biker bar." A reality TV series that followed the show, "Full Throttle Saloon," aired six seasons primarily on truTV.
Early Life
Michael Ballard was born in 1965 in Trimble, Tennessee. Growing up in Trimble, Michael was a bit of a hell raiser. He was so mischievous that the local police gave Michael the nickname "Little Al Capone". Ballard developed a passion for bars and liquor at a very early age. When he was just 12 years old he began sneaking through the back door of the town's biggest bar the Silver Dollar Cafe.
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Full Throttle Saloon
He eventually settled down a bit, and began his professional career in the cellular phone business. He took a trip to Sturgis, South Dakota in the late 90s, and subsequently decided to sell his company, Cellular Plus.
Something about Sturgis called to him, and Ballard used the money from the sale of his business to purchase 30 acres of land.
He proceeded to build a massive indoor/outdoor bar and recreation facility. The complex, which he named Full Throttle Saloon, features multiple restaurants, a tattoo parlor, stores, two stages for performances, a wrestling ring, a zip line course, a burn-out pit, 200 cabins, and parking to accommodate everyone.
Full Throttle Saloon is open from March to mid-November. In August, during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the facility hosts as many as 20,000 people per night, and goes through as many as two tractor trailers worth of beer each evening. In order to make sure that there are enough supplies to provide food and drink for the bikers who congregate at Full Throttle during the Rally days, all vendors deliver their goods between 3 am and sun up. The road is too clogged with bikers for the trucks to get by any other time of the day.
Full Throttle has become the largest biker bar in the world, and is known for attracting a wide range of ages, styles, and personalities. Anyone is welcome there as long as they are of age, and the bar attracts regular blue-collar workers, as much as it attracts bikers. Michael Ballard was originally focused on simply keeping the massive bar afloat. Running a multi-use facility like Full Throttle Saloon is hard work and expensive. The facility is only viable for 7-9 months a year, so it is vital that he make money during the high season of July and August.
(Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
Reality Show
In 2009, he was approached by truTV. The network expressed an interest in following the daily operations of his biker bar, and they began developing a series around the bar. The reality show debuted on November 10, 2009.
The series, which ran from 2009 to 2015, followed Michael Ballard as he struggled to keep the bar successful and fiscally-sound during its shortened season, in which upwards of 300,000 people pass through its doors.
The show also features Michael Ballard's girlfriend Angie Carlson who works as the bar's Marketing Director. Angie leads a team of girls called the "Flaunt Dancers" who perform various shows at "Angieland" which is a special bar within Full Throttle. Angie's signature move is to sit on a gentleman's head during her dance.
After achieving success with the Full Throttle Saloon, Michael returned to Trimble in 2013 to launch a moonshine distillery called "Michael Ballard's Full Throttle S'loonshine". The liquor will be distributed nationally and the distillery has already become a popular tourist destination.
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