Above: The doors of the new Summit Racing Equipment Retail Superstore opened in 2002. The 25,000 square-foot store features specific areas for street, race, truck, and sport compact, as well as a mobile electronics room and a theater for tech seminars.

Summit Racing Equipment started from humble beginnings and grew into the world's largest mail order automotive performance equipment company. Headquartered in Tallmadge, Ohio, the company has three Retail Stores and Distribution Centers: Tallmadge, Ohio; Sparks, Nevada; and McDonough, Georgia. Check out our history:

1968: Summit Racing Equipment is founded as a part-time, one-person business in Stow, Ohio. But word of the company's great prices soon got out and the little business rapidly expands into something bigger.

1969: Summit Racing Equipment opens its first store to meet tremendous demand in the Akron, Ohio area. The company's early product line includes parts from Accel, Holley, Mallory, Hurst, Mickey Thompson, and other "big names."

1970: Early in the decade, the company expands into mail order by placing small ads for ET Wheels in the back of Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines. Soon, Summit Racing Equipment begins taking orders from across the country.

1976: Summit Racing Equipment produces its first major catalog and adds a full-time sales and customer service staff to keep up with the huge response.

1978: The business moves to a larger, four-building campus in Akron, Ohio; which has thousands of square feet of warehouse space to house more parts and more office space to accommodate a larger sales and customer service staff.

1992: The company outgrows its location and moves into a three-story, high-tech office and warehouse facility at I-76 and Route 532 in Tallmadge, Ohio. Summit Racing Equipment broadens its product offering to include truck, SUV, and Jeep-specific parts.

1998: Summit Racing Equipment opens a second Retail Store and Distribution Center in Sparks, Nevada. The Sparks location allows Summit Racing to offer free one- to two-day ground shipping to customers in the western United States.

1999: The demand for automotive performance and styling parts has Summit Racing Equipment bursting at the seams, so the company doubles the size of its Tallmadge location. The larger warehouse allows the company to stock millions of parts from hundreds of manufacturers.

2002: The doors of Summit Racing's new 25,000 square foot Retail Super Store open in Tallmadge, Ohio. The store features thousands of parts on display, plus a state-of-the-art sound room, a knowledgeable, friendly staff, and cool display vehicles like Don Garlits' Swamp Rat 32, Summit Racing's QuadraDeuce, and outstanding customer-built vehicles.

2006: Summit Racing Equipment opens its third Retail Store and Distribution Center in McDonough, Georgia. Conveniently located at I-75 and Route 155, the new store is easily accessible to customers from the southern United States and the distribution center allows Summit Racing to offer one- to two-day shipping to customers across the South.

Of course, Summit Racing Equipment's rapid growth was no accident.

It is the result of Summit Racing's commitment to be the best. That commitment includes:

• Huge selection of in-stock parts and no-hassle special ordering from our entire line of manufacturers
• Free ground service shipping with one- to two-day delivery to many areas of the country
• Same-day shipping on in-stock items ordered before 6 pm EST
• The first company in the automotive aftermarket to offer 24 hour ordering
• 24 hour toll-free order line and customer service line
• The number one-rated customer service department in the industry
• The "Summit Racing Handshake Guarantee;" the industry standard for customer service and satisfaction
• The industry's largest full-time technical department
• SummitRacing.com: Our comprehensive website, which features our huge online catalog, plus technical tips and how-to information, charts and guides, and a Q & A section to help customers with their projects