Whitney Van Horn wants to sell you a motorcycle this Bike Week.
She's set up shop in Hollyland Park in Holly Hill, featuring Boss Hoss motorcycles. These are high-end bike and trykes featuring the same V8 engines and drivetrains you'll find in a Corvette sports car.
In fact, some of these motorcycles cost more than your average family sedan.
Van Horn owns one of the newest Boss Hoss dealerships in the country and knows getting the brand out during Bike Week is critical.
“It's important for anybody with a brand to be able to come down here and showcase that," Van Horn said. "And showcase it to all the people that come here to Volusia County.”
Van Horn's Boss Hoss dealership in Holly Hill is just the second dealership in the state. She's the only woman to own a Boss Hoss dealership in the entire country.
Van Horn doesn't see herself as a trendsetter. She's just trying to grow her company's brand here in Central Florida, just like the people who run International Speedway Corporation and Bruce Rossmeyer Harley-Davidson. Those two companies? Also run by women.
It hasn't been easy but Van Horn said, “once you get your foot in the door in that world, then it really can open up. There's a lot, there's a lot you can do, go forward with once you kind of prove yourself, that yeah, I can hang with you.”
After spending 14 years in the automotive industry, Van Horn thinks she can. But she's still tested every week.
“Sometimes they throw you, give you a question that throws you for a loop to see if you're really for real or not," she said. "But they usually figure it out real quick.”
Van Horn tells us business this first weekend of Bike Week has been a little slow, but she attributes that to this latest winter storm that just went through the eastern seaboard.
She believes once that's done, that'll clear the way for people to make the drive to Daytona Beach for the 73rd edition of Bike Week.