LITTLESTOWN, Pa. (WHTM) – A Pennsylvania man gives the phrase “burning rubber” a whole new meaning.
Noah Russell, of Littlestown, works at Breighner’s Tire Center. Tire shop owner Randy Breightner asked him to design and build a float for last year’s Good Ole Days Festival parade. It won first place.
So this year, the 20-year-old wanted to go bigger and better. His latest creation is an 8-foot tall fire-breathing dragon made from old tires.
“I made the wings out of metal to give them a little more support, and then I have coat hangers to push out the wings a little bit, give them more of a bevel shape,” Russell said.
“I used implements because I like the pattern. It kind of gave it like a cool effect for the belly of the dragon,” he said. “Then I used, like, turf tires that would be on mowers because they were easy to cut, easy to mold, for everything else. It gives kind of a scaly look to it.”
“I had these whitewall tires that I used for the teeth and the horns,” he said. “I’ve been saving these for about six months. We had an old-style car come in with classic whitewalls on it, and i just saved them.”
A motor pushes on a can of butane and sends it through a long brake line. The gas is then ignited by a coil that is heated by remote control to make the dragon breathe fire.
“Honestly, I hope they love it as much as I do,” Russell said.