American Racing Custom Wheels Insure Success On The Street Racing Circuit
Written by man on June 29th, 2009 in Other.
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 Vehicle 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.
Between them, these two invented the mag wheel. Using spoked magnesium wheels with a strength to weight ratio unheard of in any other automobile wheel format, they revolutionized drag racing, first, and American car wheel design second.
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.
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.
The American Racing Torq Thrust wheel was so innovative and so stylish that it crossed over frpm the car fanatic market to mainstream America. Cars that we think of as prime examples of American Iron muscle cars, like the Chevy Bel-Air, were actually targeting the conservative mid-market when they were introduced. But when A set of Torq Thrust American Racing custom wheels were added, the car suddenly became an entirely different animal. Today original the Torq Thrust wheels are highly prized by car collectors.
Remember The Dukes of Hazzard? Of course you do. Over the course of the series’ 147 episodes and 2 TV movies, Warner Brothers built 340 General Lees and each one was outfitted with American Racing custom wheels - Vectors being the wheel model Warner Brothers used. All but 19 of these ‘69 Chargers were totaled doing stunt jumps. Of the 1284 American Racing Vectors that were on those 319 totaled General Lees, only one Vector did not survive. And yes, it belongs to a collector.
American Racing Truck Custom Wheels are familiar to people all around the world through the use of the American Racing Custom Wheels on cars that feature prominently film and television. From the quintessential 60’s car race movie Bullit, to the General Lee from the 70’s TV hit the Dukes of Hazzard, to the 90’s Die Harder with a Vengeance to the 21st century blockbuster the Fast and Furious and Transformers, American Racing custom wheels are an essential part of the look of American culture.
