Ups & Downs

UPs & DOWNs

UP: To Keith Wandell, for not letting dwindling Harley-Davidson sales (down 8.5 percent in 2010, according to The Associated Press), layoffs or possible plant closures prevent HOG stock from boosting back above $40 per share as of this writing. Harley reported a $146.5 million profit in 2010, compared with a $55.1 million loss in 2009. That paved the way for CEO Wandell to receive compensation valued at $6.4 million, up one percent from the previous year. That is 198 times the average H-D worker’s current wage of $32,048, as reported by the AFLCIO’s database.

B DOWN: To Polaris Industries (owner of Victory Motorcycles), for short-sheeting its CEO, Scott W. Wine, to just $3.62 million in total compensation for 2010 (up from only $1.95 mil in 2009). Polaris experienced a record profit of $147.1 million for the year, says the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.

At press time, Polaris stock was trading in the $83 range, up from $52 at the beginning of 2010.

UP: A smokin’-hot up to RS TAICHI, for protecting Danny Eslick’s backside. After sliding off his Geico RMR Suzuki GSX-

R600 in the Daytona 200 at 160-some mph, Eslick was able to climb back on the bike and ride back to the pits, where he slid into a fresh set of leathers and motored on to 35th place.

■ DOWN: To the Reaper, for collecting yet 'm' another Harley rider, film goddess Elizabeth Taylor, at the almost-ripe age of 79. Not sure if Liz ever actually piloted the thing, but her friend Malcolm Forbes presented her with a sweet Purple Passion Sportster and took the grande dame on at least a few rides upon his own Hog, christened Capitalist Tool. “The problem with people who have no vices,” goes one popular Liz-ism, “is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.”