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At Vet ter 's work s, you need a program to t ell the boss from the t roops. That's Craig on the right. His plan t loo ks a bit like a work-commune , runs like slightly
disheveled clockwork, and turns out a qual ity product at a profit. What mo re can you say?
ay 4. C a·
tt
By Lane Campbell
30
Rantoul, Illinois IS about 30 miles
south
of
Champaign/Urbana,
home of the University of Illinois
and a righteous little downtown
collegiate enclave . (1 highly recommend Grunt's Pizza ). The way lies
I so flat that Craig road on gro u nd
over dead straizht
Vetter had to
Keeping the dream alive
build an artificial hill to practice ha ng
glid ing.
Gr ound like this is good fo r two
th in gs: gro wing tall co m and laying ou t
rel atively low-co st industrial buildings.
Ther e's a bit of bo th o n th e Vetter
acreag e east of Rantoul. A goo d 01' dog
lo unges prec ariously on the bal cony
ledge ato p Build ing One wh ere Craig
lives /works/plans
in
a
V etter
relaxed /rustic st udio. Craig hi mself,
co m fo rtable in jean s an d G.\. ja cket, is
in a high ly anim ated state o n this
mornin g. deeply invo lved in plann ing
the further growth of the company he
has buil t from scratch.
The Vetter fairing co mpany started in
an o ld wh ite frame farmhouse in 1967,
b ack when n obo dy wan ted fairings. As
Craig tau ght himself th e business, he
bega n to learn wh y . The major hassle,
fro m bo th a p roducer 's and a deal er 's
stand poin t , was th at it took too man y
different fair in g designs to fit all
crea t in g a
available
mot orcycles;
production an d inve ntory nightmare fo r
anybody t ry in g to co ver th e market. lie
learned t h is t he ha rd way. even while he
