Lesson #2: The Proof is in the Product that Works

In 1910, Harley-Davidson motorcycles captured at least seven different first place finishes in races and endurance contests across America. The four boyhood friends who founded the company began racing their motorbikes because they loved it. But soon after they began sweeping races across the country, Harley and the Davidson brothers realized that they were now racing for something even more valuable than a trophy or prize money: they were racing for sales.

Three years after the seven title sweep, Harley-Davidson formed its first ever Racing Department. With William Harley as the company’s official racing engineer, the department began entering its bikes in races across the country. Harley-Davidson was now focused not only on making high quality bikes, but also on producing bikes that could win races. The company understood that in winning these races, it could build its reputation as both the maker of sound and reliable machines, and as the company whose bikes were known to be the very best of the best.

In 1914, the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. officially entered motorcycle racing. In just the first few years, the company’s team was becoming known as the “Wrecking Crew” because of their dominance over the sport; nobody could beat a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. This is a title the team would hold for years to come. In 1922, racers atop Harley-Davidson motorcycles swept all eight National Championship races.

The company received another boost in its racing career when Joe Petrali began racing for it. Petrali would not only go on to become one of the most successful racers for Harley-Davidson, but in fact, one of the most successful racers of all time. Petrali helped boost the image of Harley-Davidson as a manufacturer of reliable and speedy bikes in the minds of consumers. He also helped make it ‘cool’ to ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle; they were, after all, the bikes of winners.

The company’s winning trend continued throughout the 1930s. In 1930, all individual class winners were riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles. Two years later, Petrali began his famous five-year winning streak of the AMA Grand National Championship. Petrali also won the National Hill-Climb Championship from 1932 to 1935. In 1935, Petrali won all thirteen of the AMA National Dirt-Track Race Championships, breaking four world records in the process. Two years later, Petrali did one better in setting a new land speed record of 136.183 mph on a Harley-Davidson bike.

Year after year, race after race, the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. was proving that it was the company to beat both on and off the race track. With each lap they ran, Harley-Davidson bikes were proving their worth as machines of might. In competing and winning these races, the company was gaining mounds of free publicity – and good publicity at that. The company’s performance on the tracks helped solidify its reputation as a leader in the industry. They didn’t need fancy advertising or expensive endorsements to get ahead; they just had a product that worked, and they proved it.



Lesson #2: The Proof is in the Product that Works

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