Built to Race

The history of cars, racing & the aftermarket.

140 years of speed, from the first automobile to the build in your garage.

Every car has a story

Long before bolt patterns and offsets, people were chasing the same thing: a car that goes a little faster, handles a little better, and looks a little more like their own.

This is the road from the first automobile to today's build culture. The races, the rebels and the garages that shaped it.

Pinnacle Garage USA

From the first car to the aftermarket

Follow the road through the history of cars, racing and the people who made them faster.

1886

The first automobile

Karl Benz patents his three-wheeled Motorwagen, widely considered the first practical automobile. The road starts here.
1894

The first race

Paris to Rouen becomes the world's first motoring competition. As soon as there were two cars, people wanted to know which one was faster.
1908

Cars for everyone

Ford's Model T goes on sale, and the moving assembly line follows in 1913. Cars become affordable, and millions of owners start tinkering with their own.
1911

The Indianapolis 500

The first Indy 500 is run at the Brickyard, and American oval racing is born.
1923

24 Hours of Le Mans

The first 24 Hours of Le Mans tests speed and endurance together. For the next hundred years it becomes the proving ground for car makers.
1930s

Hot rods and dry lakes

Young Americans strip down Ford roadsters, soup up the engines and run them flat out on the dry lakebeds of Southern California. The aftermarket is born in backyard garages.
1948

NASCAR

Stock car racing gets organized. Fans can now watch cars that look like the ones parked in their own driveway battle wheel to wheel.
1950

Formula One

The first Formula One World Championship season. Open-wheel racing becomes the peak of motorsport engineering.
1963

SEMA

Speed-parts makers band together as the Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association. The aftermarket becomes a real industry.
1964

Muscle and pony cars

The Pontiac GTO and Ford Mustang arrive. Big engines in affordable cars, and a whole generation starts upgrading.
1966

Ford vs Ferrari

Ford's GT40 finishes 1-2-3 at Le Mans, beating Ferrari at its own game.
1983

The AE86 and the touge

Toyota launches the AE86. Light, balanced and rear-wheel drive, it becomes the weapon of choice for Japan's mountain-pass racers and the first drifters.
1989

Godzilla

Nissan's R32 Skyline GT-R arrives with all-wheel drive and twin turbos. It dominates touring car racing so completely that the press nicknames it Godzilla.
1990s

The import scene

JDM tuning hits the West. Body kits, wheels, turbos and late-night meets take over car culture, and in 2001 The Fast and the Furious puts it on the big screen.
2000s

Drifting goes pro

Japan's D1 Grand Prix launches in 2001 and Formula Drift follows in the U.S. in 2004. Driving sideways becomes a professional sport.
Today

Build culture

Wheels, fitment, aero and suspension. Every build is personal and every part tells a story. That's where Pinnacle Garage comes in.