Chopper Star In Ocean City For 811 Car Unveiling

Chopper Star In Ocean City For 811 Car Unveiling
Chopper

OCEAN CITY – Those attending the 2016 Miss Utility’s Greater Chesapeake Damage Prevention Training Conference in Ocean City Wednesday night got a first look at the new 811 car, a Corvette designed to spread the message on safe digging.

One Call Concepts, conference sponsor and manager of Miss Utility’s call center, partnered with Paul Teutul Jr., owner of Paul Jr. Designs and star of the series American Chopper, to unveil the car in front of conference attendees at The Clarion Resort Fontainebleau Hotel.

The car will now be the second vehicle to represent 811, a number anyone can call to get information on underground lines before digging.

The 811 motorcycle, which was revealed five years ago in Ocean City, was also on display for conference attendees to see.

Concepts Chief Executive Officer Tom Hoff started working with Teutul in 2011 to reach a new audience, according to the company’s website.

When the bike was built, American Choppers had 2.5 million to 3 million viewers weekly.

Mayor Rick Meehan, who was at the first unveiling, was also in attendance for this event.

“This event has certainly grown,” he said.

At the first conference, Meehan said less than 100 people were in attendance. This year, the event hosted 400.

Before the 811 number was established, Common Ground Alliance President Bob Kipp said each state had its own phone number to call if someone wanted to dig.

“People didn’t know where to look,” he said.

After years of searching for an easy, direct call, the Federal Communications Commission gave approval for a national number in 2007.

Michael Powell, former chairman of the FCC, favored the idea after he accidentally took out his neighborhood’s cable line one Super Bowl Sunday.

Now, homeowners and excavators can call the 811 number, wait for utility workers to mark underground lines, and then begin the digging process.

Meehan said the number was extremely crucial to the resort town’s daily operations.

“Every day is the Super Bowl in Ocean City,” he said.

Dan Florenzo, president and chief financial officer of OCC, said the purpose of the car design is to catch people’s attention.

“When they stop and look, they get the message,” he said.

The car, with lime green colors, blacked-out passenger seat and chrome wheels, matched the style of the motorcycle and had the 811 insignia engraved into the design.

The Common Ground Alliance Initiative estimates that 38.6 million people will dig this year without knowing where utility lines are located, damaging a line every six minutes.

In the nation, 20 million miles of utilities are located underground, equal to one football field of underground lines for every U.S. resident.

The 811 car will now join the motorcycle on the road for various events and conferences around the country to spread awareness about the free number and damage prevention.

This year’s event will be the eighth consecutive conference to be held in Ocean City, and the second conference in which Teutul has unveiled a custom vehicle.

“They want to see the bike, they want to see the car, and they want to see Paul Jr.,” Hoff said.

In addition to conference coordinators and sponsors, County Commissioner President Jim Bunting was also in attendance and accompanied Meehan at the event.

About The Author: Bethany Hooper

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Bethany Hooper has been with The Dispatch since 2016. She currently covers various general stories. Hooper graduated from Stephen Decatur High School in 2012 and the University of Maryland in 2016, where she completed double majors in journalism and economics.