Bender Racing gets new owner, new ventures – November 13, 2006
Two months after purchasing Bender Racing, Rich Daly has the company on a new course.
Bender Racing will retain its most familiar features — its name, some key personnel and its Yamaha-oriented performance product line that includes pipes, silencers and big bore kits.
But it also will try some new ventures.
Daly, who also owns the performance shop Dyno Port, just inked deals for Bender Racing to distribute Woody’s race studs, Team clutches and Camoplast tracks — so the company can hit both the racing and aftermarket buyers. Dyno Port will no longer work with Parts Unlimited.
He’s keeping the Reaction Suspension part of the business, but he’s eliminating what he calls “small trinkets”?from the sales mix — things like colored hand grips or silver backers. “We’re going to concentrate on major parts,” he said. “We want to sell $1,000 items.”
Daly also moved Bender Racing from Cowelsville, N.Y., back to its original home in Colden, N.Y. Dyno Port is three hours away in Union Springs, N. Y.
Dealers and consumers should see a change in Bender Racing’s inventory and delivery by December, Daly said. Adequate inventory has been a problem for Bender Racing in the recent past, Daly said. “I didn’t realize how bad it really was,”?he said.
Bender Racing will have no store-front retail presence, and Daly said he doesn’t want to delve much into Internet sales. He said 90 percent of direct sales will take place via telephone, and he expects dealer sales to make up 75 percent of overall sales. He added that he’s not interested in discounting.
DynoPort and Bender Racing were no strangers to each other. Prior to the purchase, Daly was a supplier to the Yamaha-focused performance shop. When Bender Racing, owned by Terry Paine, got behind in its bills to DynoPort, Daly bought out everything but the turbo business.
Bender Racing will run as a separate business unit under Dyno Port’s umbrella, and will retain the Bender name. Paine kept the turbo business. Bender Racing also will retain long-time employees Mike Ebert and Heath Lux, who will do sales and light assembly.
