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HMF Engineering, Inc. was founded in 1997 by Hans Luenger in Cleveland,
Ohio. Hans started the company by himself in his garage building private
label aftermarket performance Ducati Motorcycle exhausts for Fast By
Ferracci. As the workload increased, Hans hired three of his friends and
bought a building in Brooklyn, Ohio in 1999 to help with the manufactoring
process and diversify the product line. In addition to the Ducati exhausts,
HMF began to produce it's own line of high performance aftermarket exhausts
for the Honda RC 51 motorcycle and the Honda 400EX ATV. To better understand
the market, Hans started racing motorcycles in 1999 and expanded the product
line of sport and street motorcycle exhausts to better serve the sport he
was competing in.
After refinancing his house three times between 1999 and 2002 and selling
his Corvette and FZR 1000 to keep the business alive, HMF reinvented itself
once again by plunging into the ATV exhaust market in late 2002. The early
HMF ATV exhausts were made using the technology and sophistication used in
street bike exhausts.
With the price starting so low, the public did not believe that the product
was well built. Also, HMF had no name brand recognition. To boost rising
sales, Hans teamed up with local Pro GNCC ATV racer John Gallager in 2003.
Hans finished 3rd in his class and John finished 18th, but the real victory
was the fact that thousands of racers noticed that the owner of an exhaust
manufacturer was one of them.
Sales consistantly increased through the year and by the 2004 race season
Team HMF had grown from Hans #324 and John #18 to include five-time national
champion Bill Ballance, and 11-time utility champion, Mike Penland. There
was also a long list of devoted racers from almost every class in the
series. After the top pro's signed on with HMF to begin production of a
signature series exhaust line, national distribution was the next logical
step. That solidified HMF today as a key player in the world of aftermarket
exhausts.
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