Richard W. Rodriguez
Anything rich with history and heritage immediately captures my interest.
The iconic Harley-Davidson brand certainly fits. And Mark Smith, owner of Fort Worth Harley-Davidson on the West Loop, leans into it.
“I do believe strongly in maintaining the heritage of something,” he says.
Our first stop on a tour he is leading is the middle of the showroom. In a glass case is an original 1915 Harley model that he acquired as part of the storied brand’s 100th birthday in Fort Worth 10 years ago.
“It required just a little bit of restoration,” says Smith, 47. “We unveiled it [that day], and then I rode it from the dealership here to downtown to the original site. We had the Fort Worth PD doing a parade-style escort. Our Hog Chapter, which is our riding club, followed me over there. It was a real special day celebrating.”
Smith, who has a bachelor’s and MBA from Dallas Baptist, became the dealership’s 10th owner when he acquired it in 2006. He considers himself a steward of the dealership and its history. He oversaw a dramatic renovation of the building. Smith today owns three other dealerships — a Harley-Davidson store in Burleson and an Indian Motorcycle next door to Fort Worth Harley-Davidson and another in Dallas.
The corporate entity that oversees all four is Ride Free Power Sports headquartered at the location on the West Loop, his biggest store that employs 45.
Fort Worth Harley-Davidson has twice won Harley’s Platinum Circle of Excellence Award.
Are you a gear head? “I guess so. I built my first Harley, a ’92 Sportster at 19. I was working at Texas Harley.”
You obviously have leaned into the history. “We have the coolest customers in this business. A customer, 14 or 15 years ago — not long after I bought the store — researched the history of this dealership … all of its locations, all of its owners, and gave it to me as a gift. It’s pretty cool.”
What was your journey in the business? I'm a second generation [dealer], but not in the traditional sense. My dad owned a Texas Harley for a period of time in Bedford. I actually grew up around that. Before that he was in Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki. I grew up around dirt bikes and riding all my life. But then once I was in college and graduated from college, he started dabbling in the car business. That's how I got my step in the car business. My first store was a little Chevrolet dealership in Teague, Texas. Middle of nowhere. It was a defunct store. My dad said, 'See if you can go get that open and you'll learn a lot.' And sure enough I did. I sold that store after two years and then bought Dodge dealership in Waxahachie. And then at that store, it was an old Delta facility, I found land that I wanted to buy and relocated to the freeway. And I decided that I could general contract it myself. But by doing so, I did it with so much savings that when I converted it from a construction loan to a mortgage, I had so much equity I was able to buy out my dad's dealership. I've been fully independent since '02.
You mentioned that people thought you were “crazy” for buying an Indian dealership. Why? “Indian is a legendary brand started in 1901. It emerged as Harley-Davidson's biggest rival through the ’50s. World War II was its downfall. The Indians weren't reliable. The Harleys were. When the soldiers got back from the war, they wanted to stay with Harley. So, Indian went bankrupt. The brand has tried revivals, but the biggest revival was when Polaris Industries bought the brand. Polaris is actually a bigger company than Harley-Davidson. When I saw that they were buying the brand, I thought this was a good opportunity to take a look at it. People thought I was crazy. I think that's just part of being an entrepreneur.”