THE SECRETS OF THEIR SUCCESS: Dick Lechien Of Maxima Lubricants

ÿÿ The men behind the logos don’t always get the publicity that their high-paid racers do. These men toil behind the scenes. These men don’t know the meaning of nine-to-five and would never be happy taking a vacation during the racing season. The motocross industry is forged by these men. They have dedicated countless hours, risked their finances, and based their lives on the premise of service to the sport of motocross.

ÿÿ The MXA staff decided to interview some of the mover-and-shakers of the motocross biz in an effort to share some of the wisdom, inspiration and experiences of the men behind the logos.

HOW DID YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE INDUSTRY?
ÿÿ “I got involved in the motorcycle industry back in 1968 when I became a Honda dealer. I had a Honda/Kawasaki dealership for 11 years, got into boats and then got into Maxima. I got into Maxima because of Ronnie’s racing. At that time there were a lot of lubrication issues. We were using caster oils and suffering all the issues of rings sticking and so on. A couple castor oil manufacturers had ceased to manufacture for a short period of time, and one thing led to another. Castor oil is the reason we got into it, but once we got into it we realized that there wasn’t enough castor oil business to build a business on, so we got into other products.”

WHERE DID THE NAME MAXIMA COME FROM?
ÿÿ “We used to do a lot of racing and fun-riding down in Mexico. All their speed-limit signs said, ?Kilometers Maxima.'”

WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST BIG BREAK IN GETTING EXPOSURE?
ÿÿ “Ronnie gave us a lot of exposure, and that was the beginning of it, but I think we really started coming onto the map when we got heavily into jet-ski racing. For a while, every champion jet-ski racer, and most everybody else was using our products. The jet-ski thing accelerated our business.”

WHAT IS THE SINGLE GREATEST THING YOU HAVE LEARNED DURING YOUR YEARS OF DOING BUSINESS?
ÿÿ “I’ve learned to treat the customer like I would like to be treated myself. And I’ve learned that there is no substitute for a great product.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO START THEIR OWN COMPANY?
ÿÿ “Just be willing to put your nose down. It takes a lot of tenacity, and a lot of effort. I worked for three years without a salary, and you have be willing to do things like that.”

website: www.maximausa.com