March 2006
Success Stories - Rucker Performance: Bill Rucker
Drag Specialties
March 2006 – This is a name you’ve undoubtedly heard before. What you might not have heard is that Bill Rucker, one of the original founders of American IronHorse, has been dealing with Drag Specialties since 1996 when he started AIH. “I’ve always been a good customer with Drag.” Bill says, and his old company, AIH, is still a Drag Specialties customer, a telling fact all by itself. Now with his newest company, Rucker Performance in Fort Worth, Texas, nothing’s changed. Bill Rucker is a Platinum Level Drag Specialties dealer, buying at least $10,000 worth of FatBook product a month. “And I get all sorts of stuff from Drag, too,” Bill says. “Just about everything I need.” Rucker Performance specializes in high-end customs, bikes starting at the $50,000 level, and the fact that Bill can find just about everything he needs for these masterpiece motorcycles right in the FatBook speaks volumes about the quality of hardware Bill is ordering.
“I wanted to build one-off bikes,” Bill says, explaining his reasons for leaving AIH and starting Rucker Performance. “I wanted to build motorcycles I could put some real quality and imagination into, bikes that would challenge me and all the people with me. I wanted to build motorcycles that were on the edge.” Apparently, for Bill Rucker once a good-looking motorcycle design goes into mass production the fun part is over. He’s on to the next idea. “I like to leave the pack,” he says, “step out and take a risk.”
The least amount of risk, though, comes from his dealings with Drag Specialties. “I have absolutely no problem whatsoever finding the quality I need at Drag,” Bill says. “We buy our shock absorbers, we buy front end components, we buy brake components, we buy sheet metal, you name it. It’s probably easier,” he says, “to list what we don’t buy from Drag Specialties than trying to list what we do.” Bobby Pickard, Rucker’s Drag Specialties rep, keeps the new shop up-to-date and well stocked.
And Bill Rucker is having a great time. “Once you’ve built up a successful company like American IronHorse, a company with 400 employees,” he says, “you don’t have to do that for your ego anymore. Now I can do the kind of thing that pleases me. I’m the only person I’m trying to impress now. I don’t have anything to prove to anyone, except with my next bike.”
August 8, 2006 11:15 AM | send page | Press Releases