VOLUME 59 ISSUE 3 JANUARY 19, 2022 P33
teur flat track events and won
numerous races at Ascot Park, a
highly competitive and legendary
racetrack.
With his reputation as a top-
notch racer, Petty went on to
race on the American team for
ISDT competition in 1969, 1970
and 1971. He earned a Silver
Medal in 1969 but was plagued
by mechanical problems in other
outings.
It was during one of these Eu-
ropean trips that Petty introduced
his newly invented plastic fend-
ers. Months later, Petty got a call
from British custom motocross
builder Eric Cheney raving about
the durability and popularity of
the fender. With Cheney's en-
dorsement, the fenders became
huge sellers in Europe and soon
after in America as well.
"It started when I bought
this ugly little plastic fender,"
Petty told Cycle News in a 1981
interview on how Preston Petty
Products got its start. "Man, I
thought it was the answer to my
dreams. I fondled the thing and
put it on just right, and then it
broke off about halfway through
the enduro. Have you ever spent
an afternoon crashing into the
trees 'cause you couldn't see?
It's not a whole lot of fun. I can
remember riding down the trail
with all this crap flying in my eyes
thinking that it should be possible
to design a bombproof fender. I
decided to take a whack at build-
ing it.
"I started working on an injec-
tion mold in the last part of 1969.
Despite not knowing a hell of a
lot about what I was trying to do,
I finished the mold in the begin-
ning of 1970.
"I'd made myself a plastic fend-
er, but it didn't just pop out of a
mold and make me instantly rich.
Back then I didn't even know that
there was more than one kind
of plastic. I couldn't tell you the
difference between polyethylene
and Polly-wants-a-cracker. I just
went out, bought some plastic
and made a stack of fenders."
It didn't take long for the
30-year-old computer program-
mer and trouble-shooter to figure
it out.
The first PPP fenders were
built in a small airplane hangar in
Arizona. As the business grew,
he opened a factory in Oregon
and expanded his line of prod-
ucts, which included number
plates and grips, among other
things.
The business, however, began
taking over his life and would
later say that he was "...a slave to
a monster, a company that I had
created. I felt I was subordinate
to what the employees wanted."
Petty eventually sold the rights to
a company that ultimately drove
PPP into the ground in the early
'80s.
Petty, who will always be re-
membered in his iconic blue me-
chanic's coveralls, was inducted
into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of
Fame in 1999.
CN
Petty passed away at the age of 81.
