THE ROAD TO TODAY

1845 Robert W. Thomson invents and patents the pneumatic tire but finds no consumer demand for it. 1870 Benjamin Franklin Goodrich founds B.F. Goodrich in Akron, Ohio, the first rubber products maker in a city that later would claim to be the ``Tire and Rubber Capital of the World.''

1888 John Boyd Dunlop of Ireland develops first commercially practical pneumatic tire primarily for bicycles, which were the mechanized vehicles of that era.

1889 John Boyd Dunlop forms Pneumatic Tyre & Booth's Cycle Agency, which ultimately became the Dunlop Tire & Rubber Co., the first company founded specifically to make pneumatic tires.

1895 Brothers Edouard and Andre Michelin of France pioneer use of pneumatic tires on cars, illustrating their advantages in a race from Paris to Bordeaux.

1896 Automaker Alexander Winton of Cleveland commissions B.F. Goodrich to produce pneumatic tires for the first U.S. production car.

1955 National association changes its name in order to add the word ``Retreaders,'' becoming the National Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association.

1956 National association persuades Congress to drop the rate of the then-proposed federal excise tax on tread rubber from $1 to three cents per pound.

Government implementation, at the association's urging, of ``Tire Advertising Guides,'' intended to halt use of misleading tire names and descriptions.

1958 First Louisville Retreaders Conference held by Central States Retreaders Association, which in 1964 changed its name to the American Retreaders Association.

1960 ``Tires Building'' constructed at 1343 ``L'' St. in Washington to house association's headquarters.

National association again persuades Congress to limit the excise tax on tread rubber to 5 cents per pound rather than the suggested rate of 10 cents.

1968 U.S. government imposes safety standards on passenger tires.

1975 Radial passenger tires dominate original equipment market and begin making serious inroads on replacement market. Within five years, passenger radials outnumber bias tires in the aftermarket. Radials make steady but slower penetration of the replacement truck tire market due to their tubeless construction which necessitated the purchase of new wheels.

1978 The NTDRA clashes with National Highway Traffic Safety Administrator Joan Claybrook over tire registration, which the association wanted to make voluntary.

Goodyear defends its ``sole supplier'' position regarding dealers at the NTDRA convention.

The NTDRA complains to tire makers about direct selling of truck tires.

Goodyear boycotts the NTDRA trade show, saying it disagrees with the association's position on direct selling practices.

NTDRA-commissioned study by Louis E. Stern advises small independent dealerships to combine their purchasing and marketing operations in an effort to gain economies of scale in the increasingly competitive marketplace.

1984 Congress eliminates 25-year-old excise tax on tread rubber in response to lobbying by the NTDRA and its allies.

Goodyear-brand tires go on sale at Sears, Roebuck and Co. automotive centers-the company's first departure from its former policy of selling Goodyear tires only through dealers and company-owned stores. The company later expanded its distribution by signing deals with Discount Tire Co. of Scottsdale, Ariz., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Canadian Tire Corp. In response, angry dealers in California later sue the company.

Michelin North America introduces its XLE passenger tire line exclusively at KMart Corp.

1995 The United Rubber Workers union, after its strike funds are depleted by the industry's longest strike against Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. and Pirelli Armstrong Tire Corp., merges with the United Steel Workers of America, after existing nearly 60 years as an independent organization.

Michelin North America relocates the former Uniroyal Goodrich headquarters from Akron to Greenville, S.C.

Continental A.G. moves all but the commercial tire sales operations of the former General Tire to Charlotte, N.C., leaving Goodyear the last such company headquartered in the ``Rubber City,'' once home to four of North America's ``Big Five'' tire makers.

The NTDRA marks its 75th anniversary.

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