Motorsports Socks
Description: Founded in 1890, Rothmans International was a British tobacco manufacturer headquartered in Hill Street, London. Rothmans was an active promoter of motorsports in the 1980s and 1990s, creating Rothmans Racing in 1982. Rothmans Racing signature livery could be found everywhere, from the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Paris-Dakar Rally to Grand Prix motorcycle racing and the Monza 500.
Description: When you think of Sonoma, California, road racing is probably one of the last things on the list, but that all changed in when two friends conceived the idea of a racetrack while on a hunting trip in the southern Sonoma Mountains in 1967. Located at Sears Point in Sonoma County, California, the original 2.520 mile road racing course was constructed on 720 acres and opened on December 1, 1968, with the hosting SCCA Enduro. Featuring 12 turns on a hilly course with 160 ft. of total elevation change, the track is still considered one of America's greatest road racing tracks. The track was renamed Golden State International Raceway, and saw a couple more name changes decades later, but is still in operation today as the Sonoma Raceway.
Description: Founded in 1930, Dinoco Oil, formerly known as Dinoco Gasoline, is an international gas and oil company of fossil fuel owned by Tex Dinoco, and one of America's most popular and consumed products. The company has covered lots of events, including 2006's Dinoco 400 for the Piston Cup. The company is also Strip "The King" Weathers', Cal Weathers', and Cruz Ramirez's sponsor in the Piston Cup Racing Series.
Description: The 1907 Peking to Paris Race had inspired an even bolder test of these new machines known as automobiles. The course would take racers from New York City to Paris, with a planned 150-mile ship passage from Nome, Alaska, across the Bering Strait to East Cape, Siberia. This was a considerable challenge, to say the least, given the state of automobile technology and the nearly nonexistent road infrastructure at the time. Six cars and 17 men attempted the dangerous journey, but only three of six contestants completed the course. All told, The Great Race of 1908 took 69 days and covered over 13,000 grueling miles of winter roads. In the end, the winner was the American team, driving a 1907 Thomas Flyer.
Description: Founded in 1930, Dinoco Oil, formerly known as Dinoco Gasoline, is an international gas and oil company of fossil fuel owned by Tex Dinoco, and one of America's most popular and consumed products. The company has covered lots of events, including 2006's Dinoco 400 for the Piston Cup. The company is also Strip "The King" Weathers', Cal Weathers', and Cruz Ramirez's sponsor in the Piston Cup Racing Series.
Description: The Monterey Grand Prix dates back to 1960, and is held in the fall at Laguna Seca Raceway. The event was originally a USAC Road Racing Championship race, following the success of the SCCA's Pebble Beach Road Races. After USAC's road racing series disbanded in '62, the race became a non-championship sports car race for three years. The race then joined the Can-Am schedule for 1966–1973. After the demise of Can-Am in 1974, the event shifted to Formula 5000.
Description: If you lived in the Atlanta area in the 80s and 90s and were an aspiring road racer or enthusiast wanting to really bring it on track days, Victory Vettes was probably on your short list to get your Vette up to snuff. From high RPM racing engines and track tuned suspensions to custom roll cages and performance brakes, Victory was a one-stop shop to get your ride race ready.
Description: In the early '70s, racing fuels hit the market from several major petroleum refineries to meet the needs of various motorsports. As increasingly higher performance racing engines were developed with higher compression ratios, they needed higher octane fuel to operate. Octane is one of the most significant differences between racing fuel and standard pump gas. The fuel at the corner gas station ranges from 87 to 93 octane, but racing fuel ranges from 100 to 120 octane. While the big brands focused on a few standard blends, indie outfits like Randy's Racing Fuels popped up to create custom blends. After perfecting their 'Formula 69' base, they proceeded to develop the perfect blend of secret spices to give their racing fuels the edge.
Description: Founded in 1911 as Electric Autolite in Toledo, Ohio, the company produced generators to power early day buggy lamps. In 1927, they acquired an automotive battery manufacturer, and in 1935, Electric Autolite decided they should get into the business of manufacturing spark plugs. In 1936 the first spark plug was produced at their Fostoria, Ohio plant. Electric Autolite's products were expanded further to include starter motors, ignition systems, and wire and cable products. With a full range of automotive electrical goods in their stables, Electric Autolite began securing supply contracts with leading car manufacturers, providing their products as OEM installations, and allowing Electric Autolite to move into a phase of explosive growth.
Description: Stock car racer Robert Newton wanted to design a tire compound to gain an advantage against fellow racers. This was done by retreading street tires in order to obtain a compound that would adequately gain enough traction. Using an abandoned barn in his home state of Indiana to start his business, he began sales to local racers, making him the first producer of specialty tires for competition use.
Description: Super Stock & Drag Illustrated was founded by John "Monk" Reynolds, publisher of Eastern Drag News and owner of Pennsylvania's US30 drag strip. The first issue was November 1964 and the magazine published continuously until June 1996 when it was re-titled 'Drag Racing' and only made it a few more years until a final issue in March 1999. The magazine was a thoughtful mix of drag racing coverage, tech articles, and street machines, which gave it pretty diverse appeal to gear heads of all sorts.
Description: Ed Iskenderian was a Southern California hot rodder in the years leading up to WWII, working to make his roadster go faster. Post war, a high demand for parts from returning GIs eager to get back to hot rodding was so great that Iskenderian was faced with a long wait for a cam he wanted for his own car. Figuring he could do just as well himself, he bought a surplus cylindrical grinder, converted it into a cam-grinding machine, and went to work. He wasn’t just making a similar cam to those available at the time – he made them better. His cams made big power, and a business grew on the strength of that reputation that would succeed for decades to come, rightfully earning the title of America's fastest racing cams.
Description: Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli (AGIP) was established in Rome in 1926 under the auspices of the Italian government for the purpose of exploring, exploiting, and distributing Italy's underground resources. After the discovery of oil at Cortemaggiore near Piacenza in 1952, the then president of the state-owned company, Enrico Mattei, decided the company needed a logomark. The new logo depicted a stretched-out figure of a six-legged black dog with large red flames issuing forth from its mouth set against a yellow background and would go on to appear on service stations throughout Europe and in countless placements as a sponsor of a wide range of motorsports and events.
Description: The B&M Hydro Stick became the only patented four-speed automatic racing transmission in history when it launched in 1961. Based on the popular Hydramatic line of transmissions, the B&M Hydro Stick allowed racers to manually shift their automatic transmissions. In a time when manuals ruled the track, B&M’s Hydro Stick changed the game by making it possible to keep an automatic transmission in low gear until the driver decided to upshift.
Description: Conceived in 1959 by the Smokers Car Club of Bakersfield as sort of an East vs. West challenge, the March Meet (aka United States Fuel and Gas Championships) became much more than that. Held at Famoso Bakersfield Raceway, the event's reputation as the most fierce outlaw drag race brought competitors from coast to coast. Winning the event gave a drag racer immediate caché as the race was that tough to win in its heyday.
Description: Dale Earnhardt kept himself relatable with a well-publicized sense of humor. This shirt is a well-worn replica of the one Dale most likely had made up in one of the many popular 'make your own t-shirt' shops found in malls throughout the late 70s and 80s. Dale was definitely worthy of wearing such a cocky message... are you?
