American Racing

American Racing Equipment Inc. is a high performance after-market wheel manufacturer started during the American muscle car era.

History

"In 1954, Romeo Palamides, an early drag racing innovator, designed and crafted leading edge, high strength-to-weight magnesium drag racing wheels for his dragster. It was the early years of hot rodding and street enthusiast interest in the lightweight, higher tech wheels was overwhelming. Romeo's vision, working from a small machine shop in San Francisco with his partner, engineer Jim Ellison, evolved into America's leading aftermarket wheel company. In 1956, they formed American Racing Equipment"(http://www.streetortrack.com/American-Racing-Wheels-c-282.html.)

Torq Thrust

American Racing became famous with the Torq Thrust wheel that, although first applied on the dragstrip, became a popular street racing wheel. The Torq Thrust was specifically designed with a "tapered parabolic contour" spoke, as opposed to a semi-solid modular design, to increase brake cooling and simultaneously decrease wheel mass.

The American Racing Torq Thrust wheel is considered by some as the most famous muscle car wheel of all time [http://www.streetortrack.com/American-Racing-Wheels-c-282.html American Racing Wheels ] ] and is sometimes credited as starting the entire custom wheel movement.

Baja

The Baja was one of American Racing's first aluminum truck wheels and remains a great seller to this day. It is a one piece 8 hole design and comes in either a polished or chrome finish. This wheel is still extremely popular with trucks, Jeeps and other off road type vehicles and is available in many sizes, offsets and lug patterns.

In popular culture

American Racing also supplied the every original General Lee built for the famous "Dukes of Hazzard" TV series (all 340) with their "Vector" model wheelcite web|url = http://www.americanracing.com/company.asp |title = American Racing: Official Manufacturer Website- custom, chrome, polished and painted wheels |accessdate = 2008-06-30] . Of the 1,360 wheels used for jumps and stunt driving during the television series, only one wheel failed by breakingcite web|url = http://americanracing.com/bottom/info.asp?section=info |title = American Racing: Company Info |accessdate = 2008-06-30] .

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