American Racing Custom Wheels Warrant Wins 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.

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.

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.

American Racing custom wheels are familiar to people all around the world through the use of the product 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.