Donna Pingel’s
first exposure to motorcycles was when she was 17 or
18 years old, she recalled. “I was driving around in
my car and saw a motorcycle for sale and stopped to
look at it,” she explained. The bike was a Honda
100cc step through and Pingel said she had to have
it, so she went ahead and bought it. “I would just
ride it around my neighborhood,” Donna told us, but
shortly after she bought the bike she moved to a new
neighborhood where the local Honda dealer was just
two blocks away. “I would go there almost daily,
looking at the models and picking up brochures and
figuring out what would be my next motorcycle,”
explained Pingel.
But before she was able to buy her next motorcycle,
Donna said she met her future husband, who, at the
time, owned a motorcycle shop adjacent to her house.
“We married and that is how I became involved in the
powersports industry,” shared Pingel. She continued
by saying her husband’s business was in building
choppers and rebuilding Harley- Davidson engines. “I
started working at the bottom doing the cleaning,”
she told us, “He was pretty fussy and had to have a
clean shop. He liked my work and moved me up to
sales person since he really liked to do the work
but didn’t like dealing with the customers.”
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According to
Donna, when she first started at the business in
1973 it went by the name of Motorsports Sales and
Construction, though the two later renamed it Pingel
Enterprise, in the mid 1980s, because, she said,
there were a lot of ‘motorsports’ in the business.
“So I have been with the same company for 35 years,”
Pingel stated.
“My husband and I have worked together the entire
time and I did whatever was needed to be done:
machine shop work on mills and lathes, a little
metal polishing, product packaging, tech, sales,
order processing, picking, shipping, bookkeeping,
inventory, human resources, ads and cataloging,”
listed Donna. Currently, Pingel added, she serves as
vice president, overseeing many of the daily
business activities, as well as attending trade
shows and motorcycle events.
“I enjoy meeting our customers at various industry
events, as well as other business owners in the
industry who share my passion for this industry,”
Donna told us. She said one of her best moments was
when Drag Specialties and Parts Unlimited picked up
their product lines. “Being in the business has
allowed us to participate as a sponsor for Top Fuel
Drag Racer Larry McBride |
who
was the first motorcycle to run 5.99 in the 1/4 mile
and we were there to watch him at Houston, TX, in
1999,” Pingel continued, “In 2005 Harley-Davidson
contacted us to provide products for their Destroyer
drag race motorcycle and we were very proud to have
been chosen as we had been providing drag racing
products since 1975.” Her most recent favorite, she
said, was when they purchased a café/bar in Sturgis,
SD, in 2007. “It is the perfect venue to promote
Pingel products inside with a full display area
outside. And the location is great being right
across the street from the Sturgis Harley-Davidson
dealer,” she explained, adding, “We have done some
remodeling inside and named it Shifters Bar and
Grill after our product, the electric shifters. It
is where ‘Shift Happens’ in Sturgis.”
Since her first motorcycle, Donna said she has only
had a few up until 1998, when she restored a KZ900.
“I loved it but it wasn’t as comfortable as I
wanted,” she explained. However, in 2001 Donna then
purchased a Honda 750 Shadow and rode it until she
restored a V-Rod in 2003, she explained. “That was
it and I had to have one and purchased an
anniversary model. I added a windshield and
saddlebags and |
it was a fun bike. I love the performance and
handling,” she told us. Then in 2005, Pingel said
she walked into her local Harley-Davidson dealership
and saw a 2006 Screaming Eagle V-Rod and decided she
just had to have it. Pingel added, “So that is my
current ride most of the time because I like it the
best as I am fortunate that I still have all of
these motorcycles. I have drag raced this V-Rod and
look forward to doing it again. Most of my riding
time is for pleasure in the hills of Southwestern
Wisconsin with the Black Hills in South Dakota being
my next favorite riding area. I am also captain of a
modified hi-performance Bonanza A36 airplane which
is also another great ride.”
Though the biggest threat to the market right now is
the economy, Pingel said she believes the area with
the greatest growth potential is drawing in the
younger generation, who are starting to make their
way into motorcycling.
“Enjoy what you do,” she advised. Pingel concluded
by saying, “Being passionate about motorcycling,
along with having a business in that industry makes
for a fulfilling life. It doesn’t get any better
than also sharing that passion with my husband.”
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Pingel
Enterprise, Inc. founded in 1967, is owned by Wayne
and Donna Pingel and is a manufacturer and
distributor of Motorcycle Performance Products.
Wayne became a motor-cyclist when purchasing his
first two-wheeler in 1960. His interest in
motorcycles developed into his own company named
Motorsport that started out occupying a two-car
garage in Palatine, Illinois with Wayne doing custom
fabrication of “Chopper” type motorcycles and
Harley-Davidson engine rebuilding. He also found
time to build choppers for himself.
racer, the Pingels started traveling to national
events in 1983 with a van load of products for sale
and a table for displaying them. The company now
takes their product line “on the road.”
