Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1456806
If you're over 50 and rode a motorcycle, then you knew of Preston Pe y — be it the motorcycle compe tor racing flat-track, enduros, scrambles, or even the ISDT represen ng the USA three mes. Most people recognize Preston from his business Preston Pe y Products. But there was far more to this man than just plas c fenders. A er two years at BYU, and then two years at Utah State, Preston moved on to taking computer engineering night classes at UCLA; this was 1961. At that me com- puters were taking up as much room as a small house, and what was a computer? Roughly in 1962, Preston was working at Rocketdyne, a company that was involved in the engines for the rockets on the Apollo moon missions. His job was to program numerical controls (NC), which later changed to CNC machining. When Preston first started up in Newburg, Oregon in '72, the header on his business sign included Numerical Control. He eventually dropped that and just focused on the Preston Pe y Products busi- ness. All of this special background gave him the oppor- tuni es he found later in his life. One such oppor- tunity presented itself in the late 60s. At breakfast one morning with Preston, I asked, "Hey Pres, there is a rumor floa ng around that in the late 60s there were these two hippy college kids that asked for you to help with a computer project. They had this idea of a portable computer in like a suitcase. Is this true?" His response to me was, yes; what they showed him was really rough and did not look like it would work. At the me he said I did not think much of it. Well, Steve Jobs and Steve Wosniak thought that they had a great idea and it looks like it worked out. Preston was not the first to produce plas c fenders, but he was the one who perfected the materials to build a "guaranteed unbreakable" fender. His first plas c fenders were produced in Los Angeles in 1969 a er much tes ng on different plas c materi- als. Preston befriended a gentleman named George Yates Jr., who helped Pres to get it right. Words from George Yate's son George: "My name is George Yates. -I saw your Preston Pe y site, and it evoked many memories of my Dad George Yates Jr. working with Preston 50-plus years ago to help him get his fender business off the ground. My father had the first patent for the five-gallon plas c bucket, using injec on molding in 1966. Around 1968 Preston was trying to develop/manu- facture his first plas c fender (front) but was having a difficult me ge ng the right plas c formula to make it bendable without breaking. I remember Preston telling my Dad he went to a hardware store and saw a five-gallon plas c container with the name Benne Industries/Burbank, California on the bo om and found Dad from that informa on. He showed my Dad one of his developmental fenders and said there is a problem. When Preston twisted/ bent the fender, it would sha er. Consequently, my Dad said, "Give me a few days to work on the prob- lem." To make a long story short, Dad figured out the right plas c formula and made his first front fender for a couple of years un l Preston established his own manufacturing site. I have 10 original, white front fenders from 1968, with three personally signed by Preston. The photos were from Feb 2018 at Preston's birthday brunch in Sun Valley, Cal. A bit of plas c fender history I thought you may be interested in knowing. Thanks for your me." March 2022 9 Preston Petty performing the Preston test Preston Petty performing the Preston test