American Racing Custom Wheels Declare Wins On The Racing Circuit

By Ben Pate

American Racing custom wheels is an object lesson in how to build a great American business. In the early 1950's a new breed of car enthusiast was busy being born in California. Half the population still lived in the country and underground car racing meant dirt roads and out of the way places. But in the growing metropolises of California, kids looking to test themselves against other drivers created a race that lasted from one traffic light to the next and drag racing was born. Check out American Racing Custom Wheels.

The drag race was a creation of popular culture. It did not come out of boardrooms or marketing plans - it was a creation of the street. Two of the sports' early stars were San Francisco machine shop owner Jim Ellison and partner and drag racer Romeo Palamides.

Drag racing is the only racing style to have grown out of urban driving. The original Christmas tree that starts drag races was the standard three color stop light. The quarter mile drag race was not a variation on the track run by quarter horses - it was the distance from one stop light to another.

Once Romeo began cruising and bruising the local streets and strips in his revolutionary mags, word quickly spread among street racing enthusiasts. Other racers begged Jim and Romeo to make mags for them. Demand was so relentless that it became clear a profitable business could be made designing, manufacturing and selling after-market wheels for street and drag racing and American Racing Equipment was incorporated by Romeo, Jim and design engineer Tom Griffith in 1956. The company was serviced the street racing subculture until the early Sixties, when the famous Torq Thrust wheel took the company mainstream.

In 1962 Griffith created the most famous after-market wheel in automotive history, the Torq Thrust. His parabolic tapered 5-spoke design broke with everything that had gone before and broke with the semi solid wheels that were the main line of pursuit of other automotive wheel design.

American Racing Custom Wheels have since ascended into that pantheon where a product becomes a symbol for a life style: think Harley, Blackberry or Royal Dolton. Certain American Racing wheels are prized by collectors - most especially early Sixties Torq Thrust. Well, maybe not m-o-s-t especially. The absolute most valuable American Racing wheel is a broken Vector model owned by a collector in Sylmar, California, according to the American Racing website.

American Racing custom wheels have become pop culture icons. They have evolved with the changes in car tastes and styles over the years and continue to lead the after-market car wheel segment as they have for over half of a century. - 21392

About the Author:

American Racing Custom Wheels are familiar to people all around the world through the use of the Car Custom Wheels on cars that feature prominently film. American Racing Custom Wheels are an essential part of the look of American culture.