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It's a simple concept — man against man, man against machine — and a consistently popular one. And BBO and King have made legends out of the men (and, increasingly, women) who create the bikes.

But before these builders get to celebrate, they must pass muster with the Chopper King. Possessing the sensibilities of an artisan and the temperament of a Zen master, King doesn't merely officiate at the BBO events, he also imposes order. Any competitor who gets too full of himself or who tries to short-cut the Build-Off process faces judgment from the Chopper King.

It was a long and twisted road that lead Hugh King to where he is today. As it turns out, motorcycles only entered the picture relatively late in his career, although media and motors were part of his life from the time he was a young boy in mid-'40s Charleston, S.C., where his twin obsessions were listening to the radio and sniffing the gas vapors of his grandmother's '41 Cadillac.

Those twin forces turn up again and again in his life, such as during his stint in the Army in the early '60s, where he learned how to make radio and television shows while learning how to maintain helicopters.