Paul (right) and Dean Wilson (left) won the 2011 AMA 250cc Motocross Championship together. Photo by: Hoppenworld
Not many people in outside the industry will know the name Paul Perebijnos. A young American who has worked his way up from a racer, to mechanic, and now brand manager of Protaper, one of the most exciting companies in the sport of motocross.
Perebijnos, whose father is of European origin lives in America and raced professionally. He was also the guy who was mechanic for Dean Wilson in his AMA championship winning season. You could say Perebijnos knows a little more than the average guy, about the sport.
We caught up with Paul in this Industry Insider interview. We hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed doing the interview.
While Protaper is a company with a long history in the sport, I can imagine one of the exciting things working for a company like this is that it still has so much potential?
It is, and that is why I love it, because we have a lot of potential. Last year we had a really good year and grew a lot. Again that is why I am in Europe, because the biggest potential is in places like Europe. It is exciting and if I could sum up what we are about its innovation, and that is what put Protaper on the map. In 1991 we had the oversized handlebar, which pretty much put us on the map. We continue to push the limits of innovation. We have the micro bar, which is built for kids, we have the twister throttle tube, which is a throttle tube with a bearing in the end of it. We have a lot of cool innovations that we were the first to come into the market with and are currently working on a few more.
I understand your dad is actually from Europe? What is your background?
My dad was born in Bulgaria, but live in Prague his whole life. He moved to America when he was 25 and bought me a motorcycle when I was four years old. I raced my whole life as an amateur and turned professional, rode for some professional teams. During the time I went to college and got a degree in legal studies, I thought I would be a sport agent, but that wasn’t really my thing. I then worked as a mechanic, worked at Pro-Circuit for three years, won a National championship with Dean Wilson. I transition to Protaper, at first I was the marketing manager, but now I am the brand manager, so I am in charge of finances, the product development, marketing, advertising, sponsorship. We have a small team, there is only a few of us and I really enjoy the responsibility that comes with the job and I get to travel to some really cool places this Valkenswaard. I have travelled to some really nice places because of motorcycles and I am really thankful for that.
What I often find about our sport is many people in important positions were often former racers, or people who have been in the sport their whole life. How important is that aspect in your opinion?
For sure, I think our industry is very unique in that way. You have to have enthusiasts in the type of positions I am in. Not as many people in the world can relate to riding a motorcycle as they can to say throwing a football, or driving a car, so I think I am fortunate to have the background I have. As I mentioned I raced all my life, and in fact my dad had a machine shop, and that was my first ever job. So I know about materials and that gives me a lot of short cuts to the product development that I am doing. I have a unique background and I think it is perfectly suited to what I am doing.
Visiting Valkenswaard, was that your first GP?
This is my second Grand Prix, but my first in Europe. I had visited the USGP in Glen Helen and also two Motocross of Nations, the one in Colorado, and St Jean d’Angely.
And what was your impression?
For one I loved the fan turn-out, I love the racing, there is just not stop racing. Everyone’s pit presence is very professional; I think it rivals Formula One or MotoGP. The weather was the only thing that isn’t that great.
We notice in the Grand Prix’s that American companies are really getting involved in Europe now. Why is that, in your opinion?
We do a good job in the states sales wise, but really our most potential for growth is Internationally. That is why we partnered with the IceOne Husky team, we are very proud to be working with them, and we have been working with them for the last three years now. We need to grow our market in Europe, so I was there to meet with distributors, meet with the Husky people, I visited Husky the week after Valkenswaard, and made the most out of this trip and do anything I could to learn anything I could to further our brands growth in the European markets.
When you think handlebars you think Renthal, and Protaper. How is the market now?
It is still very much Renthal and Protaper are number one and number two. Domestically it’s very close between the two, globally Renthal is stronger, and that is why I am doing these trips to improve our global sales. We are working with teams internationally. We had Colton Haaker win the world superenduro championship recently, and of course a couple of weeks ago we had Jason Anderson and Malcom Stewart both winning the main events of the AMA Supercross. Of course Max Nagl won the qualification race in Valkenswaard, so we have had some success of late. We also support the 24MX Honda team.
Coming up in America we have the two USGP events in Charlotte and Glen Helen. How important are these events and are you excited to be at those races?
Again, it is important to get to the races and know what is going on, and also just meet the people you are dealing with. You can get a lot done in a couple of days without too much travel. I plan on being at both Charlotte and Glen Helen and I am really interested to see how Charlotte works out. I know some of the American teams are excited about it too.
