Death-defying Pizza Stunt Via TDA

In a parking lot event, designed by advertising agency TDA ADVERTISING & DESIGN to raise awareness for the opening of its client Pizza Inn’s 360th store in Denton, Texas, agency copywriter Joe Nafziger dressed as JoJo the Pizza Man and jumped fifty pizzas on a motorcycle. Why? “Because it just seemed ridiculous,” Nafziger says.

With approximately 120 in attendance, Nafziger, in JoJo costume, hopped a tiny, borrowed 110cc dirt bike, took one high-speed run, aborted at the last second, followed by a slow test roll up the ramp (“Evel and Robbie Knievel-style”)… then nailed the death-defying, fifteen-foot jump. Reportedly, asked afterward if her heart had been lodged in her throat, one spectator replied, “umm, ok, yeah.”

Although Nafziger, 29, has been riding motorcycles for 15 years, he had never before jumped until taking a practice run on the day before the staged event. Will he now be a regular crowd-pleaser at each new store opening? “There are no plans,” Nafziger states, “though of course, when a client asks, one always listens. But just so they know, that wheelie afterwards was totally by accident.”

The big-headed Pizza Inn mascot, with his parted, pencil-thin moustache, had been retired for nearly twenty years until his reintroduction this past August, part of a brand relaunch. For the jump only, his normal white apron was tucked in (as a safety precaution), and over the shoulders went a more daredevil-worthy black cape.