West Coast Customs, formerly of MTV’s Pimp My Ride, relocated to Corona and has big things in store for 2007 after recently signing on for a new show on ESPN with the same production company that films popular shows like Orange County Choppers and American Hot Rod. The crew at WCC will be customizing high-profile athletes’ cars, boats, buses and even dorm rooms and personal theatres. “We’re steppin’ out of the box a little bit from what we normally do,” Dane said, “Putting a little construction into it.”
In addition to WCC, Big Dane spends a lot of his time with his pit bulls, Certified Atom Bomb and Certified Black Meat. “The first thing I do in the morning, besides taking a piss, is take care of those dogs,” said Dane. He got his first pit bull about 8 years ago, and had it trained for canine protection by Larry “K-9” Hill out of L.A., a respected trainer for over 35 years. After showing the dog at some canine protection shows and beginning to make a hobby of it, Big Dane had a run of bad luck. Sometimes, late at night, Dane and his son Desmond (a.k.a Lil’ Big Dane), like to take the dogs to the park and let them run around and stretch their legs. One night, the dogs ran into the street and were hit by a car. He lost three that night. “Yeah man, three dogs in one night,” Dane said. “It hurt man…that hurt.”
After losing yet another pit to heat stroke while staying in Rancho Cucamonga, Dane hooked up with Ray Certified. Ray is the only certified pit bull breeder with a kennel license in California. Big Dane and Ray found that they had mutual interests and became business partners. “Now we are attackin’ this game together,” Dane said. After seeing how dedicated he was to helping out with the other dogs, Ray also gave Lil’ Big Dane a pit of his own to raise, a female he calls A1 .
These days Dane is focused more than ever on bettering the breed and eliminating the negativity created by groups like the BSL. “The pit bull is one of the most...
