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Hoosier Racing Tire — Lakeville
A town of 879 people holds the headquarters of the company that calls itself — and is called by its industry — the largest maker of racing tires in the world. Hoosier Racing Tire is Lakeville's anchor firm and its one nationally carried name: founded in 1957 by a stock-car racer and his wife, family-held for fifty-nine years, sold to a German conglomerate in 2016, and still, in November 2026, addressed from 65465 S.R. 931 in Lakeville while every tire it sells is made thirteen miles south in Plymouth. The firm's course is dug whole here. Its founding place — the one fact about it this town most wants to claim — is a genuine conflict in the record, and it prints whole, first.
The Founding, 1957 — and Conflict C50, Printed Whole
1957 · the company's own history (both forms); the company's 2018 co-founder announcement; IBJ 2006 and 2024; Indiana Chamber release, 13…
What every carrier agrees on: in 1957 , Bob and Joyce Newton began making their own race tires by re-treading street tires with softer compounds , selling to local racers. Bob Newton raced the small tracks of northern Indiana…
The Course — Mohawk, Plymouth, NASCAR, and the Name-Chain
1962–2016 · company history (both forms); PRI 2012; IBJ 2006, 2024; Rubber News 2004
1962. After a conversation with Mohawk Rubber at a dealer conference, the first purpose-built Hoosier racing tire followed, made through an arrangement with the Mohawk Rubber Company of Akron, Ohio : Newton designed, engineered…
The Sale and the Succession — 2011 to the Present Holder
2011–2026 · Continental release, 4 Oct 2016; Rubber & Plastics News, 11 Nov 2016; IBJ 2024; company announcement, 1 Jan 2020; Notre Dame…
From 2011 Hoosier and Continental worked together — the companies collaborated on the Official Spec Tire of the Rolex Sports Car Series, a programme the company's history says lasted eight years; Continental's 2016 release frames…
The Present State — as of November 2026
2020–2026 · the company's own current material; state filings; IDEM notice, 23 Aug 2026; Tyrepress, 25 Mar 2025; SPEED SPORT, 3 Dec 2023
Holder. "Hoosier Racing Tire is a 100% subsidiary of Continental AG " — the sentence stands verbatim in the company's current boilerplate (December 2025 release) and in Continental's own current job postings for Hoosier…
The Founders as Persons — Public-Record Strength Only
1952–2018 · PRI, 27 Sep 2012; the company's announcement, Jan 2018; Congressional Record, 19 Jan 2018; IBJ obituary items
Robert "Bob" Newton (d. 26 September 2012, aged 85). PRI's obituary: he "died peacefully at home, surrounded by family members," after "dealing with the effects of a stroke suffered in 2011." IBJ styles him "a farmer and…