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The time the abandoned Silverdome became a BMX playground
The stadium near Detroit didn’t put up a fight when a BMX prodigy came to ride a session. Watch our video to witness the last action at the hallowed venue before an attempt to blow it up went awry.
American BMX rider Tyler Fernengel was the last professional athlete to perform inside the famed Silverdome in his home state of Michigan before an attempt to blow the whole thing up went wrong. The stadium formerly hosted American football team the Detroit Lions, Wrestlemania 3, AMA Supercross and FIFA World Cup soccer games before it was shut down for good in 2013. The authorities might have needed two attempts to perform a successful implosion, but this rising rider did his stuff in style.
Watch the video in the player below to check out Fernengel tearing through the arena and scroll down to hear from the man himself.
4 min
Tyler Fernengel rides the abandoned Silverdome
Check out the final BMX street session that will shut down the abandoned stadium.
Growing up in Detroit, can you remember the first time you visited the Silverdome?
I was three years old and I had just gotten my first dirt bike. It may have been the first race I ever did. My dad entered me in the amateur supercross races held at the Silverdome; amateurs would compete the day before the pro supercross. I raced there every year until I was 10 years old.
The mirror image of Tyler Fernengel
© Joe Gall/Red Bull Content Pool
So moto was your first focus?
I always had a BMX my whole life, but it was never serious. That was actually the deal I had with my dad to get a motocross bike; I had to do a wheelie [on my BMX] all the way down the street. I had to take my training wheels off and learn how to wheelie the whole street and then once I did that, my dad got me the dirt bike.
Tyler Fernengel surveys the scene
© Joe Gall/Red Bull Content Pool
When did you start taking BMX more serious than moto?
I’d always hit little dirt jumps at the motocross tracks, but that was it on the bicycle. But when I was around 12-14 years old, motocross started to slow down because we couldn’t really afford it anymore. Then I think at about 14 I couldn’t do it at all, motocross was completely out of my life. So BMX was honestly the next best thing to motocross, I started going to the skatepark every day.
With the stadium closed for years, what did it feel like to return to an empty Silverdome?
The last time I was inside the Silverdome was at the last amateur supercross race I attended when I was 10. When I showed up to scope for the shoot, so many memories were coming back. Just sitting in the tunnel where you come out on to the track and where the players would run out, I remembered sitting there, years ago, with my dad and all the other kids. It brought back a lot of good memories. Being out on the field, it was crazy to think that there once was a motorcycle track there, every year, with all the fans, but now it’s nowhere near the same. It’s like a war zone.
I had called out the 360-barspin, but I wasn’t even sure it was possible...
What was the craziest thing you saw inside the closed Silverdome?
Just seeing the suites, the stuff I never got the chance to experience and they’re completely run down. All that stuff cost so much money once and it’s now completely worthless.
Hitting it hard
© Joe Gall/Red Bull Content Pool
The 'holy shit' move of the video is definitely the 360-barspin from the club/patio level down to the stadium floor – did you have it planned the whole time?
When I went to scope the location, I sort of called out all these moves. I really didn’t think much of them. But when I showed up to film, it was a big reality check. There was the whole film crew there and I saw how much work had gone into it. I had to step back and think, 'Whoa, this is happening and it’s all for me.' There was so much hard work and time put into the whole project. Obviously, I don’t have to do anything I’m not comfortable doing, but in my own mind I kinda feel obligated to give it a try.
I honestly started doubting myself, but I felt I had to at least try it and see what happens
Tell us about the first time you tried it.
I straight jumped it, my feet blew off [the pedals], my tyres went so flat and my bars moved. It was just so much more impact than I expected! I had called out the 360-barspin, but I wasn’t even sure it was possible. I honestly started doubting myself, but, like I said, I felt I had to at least try it and see what happens.
Tyler takes one last look around
© Joe Gall/Red Bull Content Pool
And you crashed?
It all happened so fast. I just remember slamming and rolling toward the chairs. I hit a metal upright with my ribs and just came to a complete stop. I started making that crazy noise when you get the wind knocked out of you? I sounded like a zombie. I pretty much impaled myself on a metal upright, but I was alright. I cut myself pretty good and bruised my ribs.
How did you get up and re-approach after such a scary crash?
Normally, I want to get right back up from a crash and try it again, but lunch came and I took about a 20-minute break, which isn’t the thing you’d normally want to do. When all the adrenaline is flowing, you gotta take advantage of it. It took me a while to build up the confidence to go for it again.
The second try, I landed perfect, but the impact was so heavy that both my feet blew off and smashed into the wood. I bruised my heels and my ankles were just done.
After that, I was just sick of it. I was like 'I have to do this.' I grabbed my bike and literally ran up and within five minutes just went for it. As you can see from the photo, my tyres were compressed and I was hanging off the side of the bike, I barely pulled it.
BMX on the rails
© Joe Gall/Red Bull Content Pool
What did it feel like to ride away from such a heavy landing?
At that moment when I pulled that trick over the box and finished the line, I seriously felt like there were a couple-hundred thousand people in the stadium cheering. Mainly because the emotions of the crew were just so high. Everyone was nervous for me after the first huge crash. Everyone just erupted when I landed!
You put together some interesting moves with the film crew inside the hallways, seating area, and even on the roof. What were you able to find to ride?
The 30-second line was the most fun thing to film – that’s exactly what I do when I’m out filming with my friends, just trying to put together long lines with grinds and stuff. It was so much fun filming with the crew. They were on a golf cart and we were trying to time everything perfectly. It was something completely different. They were so pumped about how we were filming it and I was too.
