Model Engineer

American Racing Custom Wheels Assure Success On The Street Racing Circuit

At the dawn of the second half of the 20th century half the population of the USA lived in rural America and street racing had yet to even be named. Racing was something that occurred on tracks or backroads – not on city streets. On the west coast a new method of racing was being invented – a way to race within the confines of an urban environment. If you want an object lesson in how serving a niche within an American subculture is a great business model, look no further than the birth of American Racing custom wheels. Get American Racing Car Custom Wheels.

Cars were customized in home garages to perform in ways that original equipment manufacturers never intended. Machines took on mutated shapes that ranged from the muscular profile of a chopped Mercury to the spidery efficiency of the early dragsters. In 1956 three of those early innovators joined forces to design and build after-market car wheels for street racing.

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.

Demand for the wheels grew until the partners decided there was enough demand to justify a full blown after-market wheel business. Romeo and Jim, with engineer Tom Griffith founded American Racing Equipment. American Racing custom wheels broke into the mainstream in the early sixties with the introduction of the five-spoke American Racing ‘Torq Thrust’ wheel. The look of the wheel was attractive to non-racers, while the high performance was a hit with racers.

The Torq Thrust is widely credited with creating the after-market car wheel. The 5-spoke ‘tapered parabolic’ design kept brakes cooler while the muscular look made the driver look cooler. Suddenly drivers who had no intention to drag race wanted American Racing wheels for their car. With them, even Mom’s ’57 Bel-Air looked like a muscle car.

American Racing custom wheels have, in many ways, transcended the automotive culture to take a place along side other pop culture icons like the Winchester, the Harley, and the Blackberry. Did you know there are people who collect car wheels? I guess it’s not surprising, considering everything else that gets collected. In any case, original ‘Torq Thrust’ wheels are highly prized by collectors. But no American muscle car wheel is as highly prized as one particular broken American Racing Vector wheel.

Where did this collector’s item come from and why is it so sought after? The answer to that question shows both the quality of American Racing custom wheels and the company’s penetration into pop culture.

Appearances by American Racing SUV Custom Wheels are common in the movies. Film directors love the powerful look American Racing Vehicle Custom Wheels give to any vehicle and stunt men love the dependability and strength. You can see American Racing custom wheels in the seminal car chase movie Bullit, both Dukes of Hazzard theatrical release movies, The Game, Die Hard With A Vengeance, The Fast and Furious franchise and last summer’s blockbuster Transformers.

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