Denver Broncos superfan takes tailgating to next level with customized truck
When Rick Nicholas rolls into Denver's Mile High to tailgate, his 1960 custom-built tailgate truck is hard to miss.
"We serve food and all the things and then a TV, stereo, we're fully self-contained, so I think it'll survive the apocalypse on its own," he said.
He named the truck Bronco 1. It took three trucks to make it and was built in 2010 for the 50th anniversary of the Broncos becoming a team.
To Rick, 50 is a lucky number.
"It took two guys 25 days each, so a total of 50 days to build the truck, hit Highway 50, and the truck that I used to tow Bronco 1 hit 50,000 miles," said Rick. "I mean, the Broncos went to 5,0 and this is now 60, and this is a 1960 truck. I think it's fate."
He was pretty lucky at Super Bowl 50... when fate would send a kicked football into the stands he was sitting in.
"I hit row 19, and I looked up, and the gentleman in front of me put his hand up, and off of his hand, into the seat, which was my seat," he recalled. "I reached down and snatched it up, and I have a football from Super Bowl 50."
His love for the Broncos started young when he started tailgating with his mom in 1976, and he has kept it up with meaning behind every detail.
Every year, the originating crew has to put a sticker on the tailgater, newcomers are treated to the Bronco Punch drink, and there's a retro Broncos logo on the hood.
Rick wears shorts to every game, freezing or not, in honor of fan legend Barrel Man.
Even the food is well planned. What they serve depends on the opposing team.
"The Raiders are always jerk chicken, why? because they're jerks? (they're) chickens!" he joked.
Rick runs the tailgate with his friends Brice and James, who have been Broncos fans since birth.
"The first memory of my life, my grandpa, we were looking at the sunset, and he said, 'You know why that sunset is orange?'" James Pelon said. "Because the Lord is a Broncos fan."
This year, the crew wears robes to the tailgate for a good reason.
"Everyone's been sleeping on the Broncos this year and we're all about themes," Pelon said. "We brought in the robe aspect... It's time to wake up!"
This year- robes. Maybe next year they'll wear crowns.