There are many hobbies and passions out there, but not everyone is able to make a living from them.
Not so for one Monroeville native.
Since the end of World War II, motorcycles have become a way of life for many. From the Harley Davidson Fat Boy softail to the classic look of an Indian Scout, or even the powerful and fast Suzuki Hayabusa, there are tons of bikes and styles that keep people riding everywhere.
It was that same love of motorcycles, beginning at the age of 4, that gave Jack Korpela his ticket to finding his life’s work in a genre he loved — even more than his passion for professional wrestling.
After graduating from Gateway High School in 2001, Korpela found himself at the University of Florida to study broadcast journalism. He loved pro wrestling and wanted to pursue a career in the business. Eventually, after graduation in 2005, he left Gainesville and sent an audition tape to Titan Tower, home of the WWE in Stamford, Conn.
Not really expecting to be contacted for any reason, given the amount of audition tapes the WWE receives, Korpela kept looking for work locally but found it a tough market to find a break in.
“I had come back home and was disenchanted with the lack of local jobs and what some of them paid,” Korpela said. “I was given an offer to work in Steubenville at a TV station for $7 an hour, but it was 90 minutes each way. I could work at Home Depot close to home and come out financially ahead. Then I read the book ‘Rich Dad, Poor Dad’ (by Robert Kiyosaki), and one of the lessons in the book was ‘Mind your own business’ — and I decided to start something of my own.”
In 2006, Korpela launched his cycledrag.com website, along with his YouTube page, while continuing to search for work locally in TV. It was more hobby than job to start, but his path was just beginning. Shortly after, the WWE called him for an interview but made no offer. Six months later while on a job interview in the Strip District, his phone rang. It was a human resources liaison from WWE.
“I get a call and an offer to come work for WWE, and I almost crashed my Ford Ranger on the Parkway East,” Korpela joked. “That changed my life. It was an incredible five-plus years to hone my craft and focus solely on my on-air ability. WWE was so dialed in, I was able to just deliver the on-air product where other jobs had you shooting video, editing, doing the little things. It was a dream come true.”
Korpela’s WWE contract as a broadcaster placed him in its growing online programming. He also did commentary on TV shows such as “Smackdown” and “Heat,” while hosting online programs like “Bottom Line” and “NXT 2.0,” among others.
But by late 2011, the WWE decided to not renew his contract and let him go. From there, Korpela bounced around, first returning to Pittsburgh and a short run at 93.7 The Fan. After that stint dried up, he went into television, taking a job in Tucson, Ariz., for a year, then eventually returning to Pennsylvania to work in TV in Harrisburg. All the while, even through his run with WWE and other stints in media, Korpela’s love of motorcycles revved below the surface.
It was that love in 2018 that turned his fortunes toward what he now does for a living. He took a full-time job with a new venture that CBS Sports started in conjunction with Lucas Oil — creating a motorsports channel.
“Who’s lucky enough to get two dream jobs in your life?” Korpela said. “Lucas Oil comes calling and I take a leap of faith, leaving Harrisburg to move to Corona, Calif., and I’m covering high-level motorsports. It was a great two years. Then covid hit, and my job was eliminated.”
Korpela turned his back on all that to start producing content on social media full time for himself, eventually moving to Clearwater, Fla., in 2022. He thought long and hard about how to market his content while trying to cover events on a shoestring budget. With his love for motorcycles and drag racing, Korpela had made quite a few contacts in that world.
He began to pick up freelance gigs as a reporter and play-by-play announcer for several smaller Motorsports Networks. The pay wasn’t life-changing, but it afforded him free travel, hotel and meals while granting him access to the product his audience was interested in seeing up close and personal.
Armed with his iPhones and a knack for knowing what was trending and popular, Korpela shot as much content while also conducting interviews with the stars on the various motorcycle circuits he was attending.
Those first two years ballooned his following — one that has grown to more than 3.5 million followers across all his social media platforms. The numbers of views and likes are staggering.
Korpela has, by far, the biggest presence online when it comes to the niche he has cracked. His YouTube page was first started in 2008; there, he racked up nearly 425 million views on over 8,500 videos posted, boasting more than 708,000 subscribers. He joined TikTok in the summer of 2021 and tallied 12 million-plus likes on his posts with more than 528,000 followers. But the crown jewel to his content creation crown is Facebook, where in 20 years he has piled up a massive audience of motorcycle fans, surpassing 2.2 million followers this past week.
“Nobody can pull the rug out from underneath me now,” Korpela said. “That revelation got me to say, ‘Let me go all-in, go on the road every single week, open up pages on all-social media platforms’ — something I learned in WWE to have any and all revenue streams open, TikTok, Instagram, you name it. No matter how small the gig it was, I felt I could make it work.”
As his CycleDrag brand has grown, his ability to conduct interviews with the biggest names involved in motorcycles has also gained traction, interviewing TV icon Jay Leno and Paul Teutul Sr. of Orange County Choppers fame. Each has done numerous interviews with Korpela.
Korpela even capitalized on a “beef” between those two when Leno, in a 2024 interview, called the “chopper” craze “junk,” citing electrical issues with a bike he was given that came out of an Orange County Choppers shop. Teutul fired back at Leno, calling him “grumpy” for taking shots at a free custom bike. Fans ate up the feud, with tens millions of views for each post Korpela made.
“I’m very lucky,” Korpela said. “I get to make my own schedule. I don’t have to worry about some suit calling me into an interview and letting me go from my job. What more can you ask for?”