The 10 Heaviest Hitters
THE 10 HEAVIEST HITTERS
The most influential people in American motorcycling today
Ed Burke: Yamaha
Yamaha’s Ed Burke goes about being one of the industry’s biggest movers and shakers in a very quiet, behindthe-scenes fashion. But as Corporate Manager of Product Planning and Assistant Division Manager of Engineering at the world’s second-largest motorcycle company, Burke has major input into most models from inception to production, exerting more direct influence over his firm’s lineup than any other American does at any other Japanese motorcycle company. Among the models he has brought to life are the first Virago V-Twins, the Venture Royale, the V-Max, the 700 Fazer and the 600 Radian. You can bet, then, that when the solutions to today’s motorcycleindustry sales slump are finally found. Ed Burke will be right in the thick of things.
Willie G. Davidson: Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson’s current success can be credited to many people, not the least of which is Vaughn Beals, the architect of the company’s acquisition from AMF. But when it comes to the actual product, the individual Harley models that have been selling so well, no one deserves more credit than Willie G. Davidson, grandson of the company’s co-founder. Willie G. employs the most simplistic-but perhaps the most effective—of marketing techniques: He gets direct input from the buying public by riding with them, either through participation in rallies and other events, or by taking to the highways and spending time with riders he encounters on the road. That approach has worked so well that if a proposed new model has Willie G.’s blessing, it goes into production; if it doesn’t, it goes into the wastebasket.
Malcolm Forbes: Capitalist
“I had a deprived childhood,” says Malcolm Forbes, “because I was never exposed to motorcycles.” It’s hard to believe that one of the world’s richest men ever wanted for anything, but that statement reveals the passion Forbes has for motorcycles. He also believes that motorcycling is a social event, so when he takes a hundred or so of his closest friends out for one of his now-famous rides, the whole affair becomes a national media event. Whether the group is riding for charity or just for fun, the sight of 100 motorcycle riders led by Forbes leaves a strong impression, especially when his co-rider is Elizabeth Taylor. At the least, Forbes’ rides combat the image problem that has dogged the sport for generations. Motorcycling would be hard-pressed to find a better friend or stronger ally.
Takeo Fukui: Honda
It’s difficult to pinpoint the most influential person at Honda, a company structured to encourage and reward group achievements rather than individual successes. But every so often, a high-ranking officer is able to transcend that group mentality and exert tremendous influence on the company’s products. One such man is Takeo Fukui, who became the Director of Honda Research and Development in June of this year. Fukui formerly was the Director of Honda Racing Corporation (HRC), where his main accomplishments were the NR500 in 1979 and the 1987 NR 750 endurance racer, both of which used oval pistons. Fukui clearly is the driving force behind Honda’s ongoing involvement with oval pistons, and his appointment at HRD raises the tantalizing question of how soon we will see them—and other equally advanced technologyin production street machines.
Jay Leno: Comedian
Leno burst onto the American comedy scene about a decade ago with his offbeat humor and quick wit. Those talents have enabled him to become Johnny Carson’s regular fillin host of “TheTonightShow,”the nation’s most popular late-night program. Leno, who makes no bones about being an enthusiastic motorcyclist, takes every opportunity to talk about bikes on the show and in his comedy routines. He has done comedy bits with a bike on stage, and even used a motorcycle as a prop for a Doritos commercial. But his involvement with motorcycling goes further than telling jokes and making the sport look like a reasonable activity. He was instrumental, for example, in getting California’s recent mandatory-helmet bill defeated, using his celebrity to give him access to key people who could help him argue for freedom of choice for California riders.
Brian O’Neil IIHS
Brian O’Neill, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, contends that motorcycling is not a sport, but a “serious highway safety problem.” Thus, the IIHS has undertaken an aggressive crusade to rid the nation’s highways of motorcycles. Last year’s ill-conceived Motorcycle Safety Act, introduced by Senator Danforth at the urging of the IIHS, was just the opening salvo; and if the IIHS cannot force legislation in its favor, it will exert its power directly on the insurance companies, many of which already refuse to insure certain bikes, regardless of who rides them. Ultimately, that may be a more serious threat than any attempts to dispose of motorcycles through legislation. Which makes Brian O’Neill Public Enemy Number One for motorcyclists.
Massimo Tamburini: Cagiva/Ducati
Tamburini has the touch. He takes common, everyday materials and transforms them into art, rolling sculptures that happen also to be motorcycles. Formerly chief designer at Bimota, Tamburini was hired by Cagiva/Ducati to take that company to the forefront of motorcycle design. His first major work was the stunning Paso, introduced in the fall of 1986, and it had an immediate impact on motorcycle design. Several Japanese bikes that followed, Kawasaki’s EX500 in particular, had shapes and silhouettes that were remarkably similar to the Paso’s. Add to that Bimota’s considerable influence on the sport (dating back to Tamburini’s involvement there), and there is only one logical conclusion: Massimo Tamburini is the most influential presence in the styling and design of today’s sport machines.
Kenny Roberts: Race team manager
when you talk to Kenny Roberts, you get the feeling he will not tolerate a foolish question, that he’s a man who does not suffer incompetence lightly. When he retired from racing, he wasn’t content to drop out of sight, so he took to managing his own roadrace team. Since then, Team Lucky Strike/Roberts has evolved from being little more than a farm team for the factory Yamaha/Marlboro team to a first-class contender for the world championship. But Roberts’ influence goes beyond what takes place on the racetracks of Europe, as evidenced by the over 80,000 fans who attended the USGP in April at Laguna Seca. Roberts was instrumental in getting a GP held in the States, and it is certain that without his persistence, the race would never have come about.
Etsuo Yokouchi: Suzuki
In the Japanese way of doing things, it is very difficult for a single individual to have much control; this makes Etsuo Yokouchi, head of Suzuki engineering, a rare exception. Often standing alone against great internal resistance, Yokouchi was the driving force behind the revolutionary GSX-R series of motorcycles, bikes that appeared in 1985 and made Suzuki a dominant force in the sportbike arena, rendering all other sport machines obsolete. He also did the impossible with the 700 Intruder, finding a way to manufacture a production-line machine intended to look like a one-off custom. And he’s the man who gave us the LT80, the most remarkable and fun-loving four-wheeled ATV ever built. Overall, Yokouchi hasn’t simply changed the way people design and build motorcycles; he has changed the way people think about motorcycles.
Ed Youngblood: AMA
The biggest threats to motorcycling today are the insurance companies and the government. And were it not for the American Motorcyclist Association, headed by Ed Youngblood, motorcycling would already have been legislated to death, and insurance rates would be more absurd than they already are. The top man at the AMA since 1981, Youngblood has, just in the last year, initiated action that rescued motorcycling from Senator Danforth’s Motorcycle Safety Act of 1987, and challenged the accuracy of a motorcycle-accident study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Motorcycling is not out of those woods yet; but based on recent events, the organization most likely to lead the way will be the AMA, under the guidance of Ed Youngblood.
