In the early sixties, when European racing wheel companies were focused upon semi-solid modular designs, designer Tom Griffith conceived the tapered parabolic contour spoked American Racing “Torq Thrust” which reduced wheel weight and promoted brake cooling. Considered by many to be the most famous wheel of all time and honored by Hot Rod Magazine in 2005 as one of twenty automotive speed parts that changed the automobile world, the Torq Thrust started the custom wheel craze, making the conversion from strip to street. Known as “Americans”, “5-spokes” or “Torq Thrusts”, different design generations evolved as car crafting technology developed. Today authentic “old school” Torq Thrusts are highly collectible and sold around the world. Often imitated, never duplicated, the Torq Thrust is the signature wheel for performance and custom purists. Torq Thrusts graced the covers of two Beach Boys albums and became the signature wheel of a rock and roll generation.

 

Fifty years later after it all started, American Racing offers a complete line of over one hundred precision-crafted alloy wheel styles under five different brand names with the same pride, innovation and enthusiasm upon which Romeo Palamides’ original vision was founded: American Racing Vintage, American Racing Pro Series, American Racing Muscle, as well as related brand lines including Twenty Inches Strong (TIS), Motegi Racing, Motto, Riax Performance Alloys, and RO_JA Motorsports. The company distributes more than 1.5 million wheels annually through state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities, company-owned, satellite-connected warehouses, an independent distributor system in the United States and through international distributors in over twenty-two countries on four continents. AR is the Official Wheel of California Speedway, Don Schumacher Racing, and Universal Studios’ The Fast & the Furious.

Learn more about American Racing by visiting their website, americanracing.com.