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Hoosier entrepreneur invents nation's first automated motorcycle wash
#896 - 17--Chill--Hoosier entrepreneur invents nation's first automated motorcycle wash--2008-09-20 03:29:54
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On most days, Mark Harrell can be found on a motorcycle riding
across country. If he's not on a bike, he's geared up to hunt elk or
bison, like the 1,950-pound buffalo he recently shot that he's quite
proud of.
And just for the record, the Southport High School graduate never spent one day of his life in college.
But Harrell is an astute businessman, a self-made guy whose
down-to-earth manner and modest genius have taken him further than he
could travel on any academic degree.
The Indianapolis native and
Zionsville resident is the owner of Harrell's Car Wash Systems, a
70-employee operation that operates, builds and sells car-wash systems
in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio. That business has left him quite well
off.
But Harrell is about to embark on a creation that just may make him the king of the road -- nationwide.
Harrell
has invented the country's first automated, touch-free wash for
motorcycles -- Moto Express Wash. The prototype is running in Speedway,
and patents are pending. Plenty of motorcycle enthusiasts and industry
experts have tried it out.
"People keep saying, 'We've been
washing cars automatically for 75 years. It's about time you started
washing bikes,' " Harrell said. "It's really an obvious idea. Wash.
Dry. Ride. It's really that simple."
Now for people who don't
ride motorcycles, Harrell's invention may seem ho-hum. But for those
who do, well, it's ingenious. After all, any rider knows that the duty
of washing and scrubbing a motorcycle is at least a two-hour chore.
That
may be why the system, with its complicated and intricate design, took
three years of work with engineers, computer technicians, chemists and
welders to design and build. There have been months of trial-and-error
testing, from using the right cleaners to rotating the wheels just the
right way, to making sure all the nooks and crannies of the bike get
sparkling clean.
It's being tested at Harrell's own business,
Dirt Stripper Car Wash at 4980 Crawfordsville Road. He's nearly ready
to move forward with production and says that by spring, the wash
should be in place at car washes nationwide.
The timing is right
for Harrell's invention. Nearly 24 million people in the U.S. own
motorcycles, a number that continues to climb as gasoline prices rise.
The
response to the invention so far has been incredible, especially since
Harrell got a one-of-a-kind endorsement from the king of custom
motorcycles, Paul Teutul Sr., star of TLC's hit show "American
Chopper." Teutul featured the wash on an August episode.
"It's phenomenal, and the uniqueness is next to nothing," said Teutul. "It's just something the world's been waiting for."
Teutul
has a bit of interest in the wash because he was the one who gave
Harrell the idea. The two met on a bike ride 10 years ago and became
good friends. When Teutul decided he wanted an automatic motorcycle
wash, he thought immediately of Harrell to create it.
"I figured
if anybody could get it done, Mark could," said Teutul. "He is the kind
of person, like me, who is impulsive, compulsive and if he's going to
do something, he does it and does it all the way."
That go-get-'em attitude is how Harrell got his start.
His
dad owned a car wash in Indianapolis as Harrell grew up. By age 10,
Harrell was working at the Southside wash vacuuming out cars for $1.40
an hour. He saved a lot of money working there, and by age 15, when a
garbage-truck salesman came through the car wash, he got his start as
an entrepreneur.
Harrell asked if he could buy a garbage truck to start a business.
"He
wasn't really interested in me until he found out my dad owned the car
wash and then that gave me some credibility," Harrell recalled.
But
it was his own savings that bought that $1,500 truck, which he used to
build a successful trash business while still in high school.
"I was a little ahead of the kids at my time," Harrell said. "They were playing sports. I was a workaholic."
