I’d like to tell you a little bit about the Tognotti family business.

It all started in 1947 with my grandfather opening a Shell gas station at 7^th and L Street. As the downtown area grew, he moved twice – to a

Union Oil Station at 13^th and L and back to a Shell at 16^th and L. My dad worked after school and weekends. He learned how to drive in the parking lot. He worked days, nights and graveyard busting tires and washing the semi-trucks.

In 1964, when my dad was 24 years old, one of our suppliers, suggested he should open a business to fill a market slot which was specialized auto parts – hot rod parts. At the time it was big in the Los Angeles area.

My dad borrowed $5,000 and opened a 1,100 square foot store at 16^th and T Street, with only one employee. We called it Tognotti’s Speed Shop and Accessories.

This was the mag wheel era. Tognotti’s was the “King of Wheels.” In 1969 we moved to a 10,000 square foot building at 19^th and T. During these years, Stu McFarland, DuWayne Starr and Ken Tanaka all came on board. Later Tognotti’s opened a tire store at 16^th and W, selling mainly Firestone tires and mounting mag wheels.

In 1968 we opened RPW or Racing Products Warehouse. Having a wholesale division allowed us to buy merchandise to sell to our retail store and to other dealers in Northern California.

Since 1970 Racing Products Warehouse has expanded to become a wholesale distributor for over 500 automotive lines with a huge multi-million dollar inventory. Racing Products Warehouse offers a full line of automotive products to offer for resell to chain stores, performance shops, machine shops, marine performance shops, vintage restoration shops, street rod builders, sprint car builder shops, suspension shops and sporty 4x4 centers all around the United States.

In recent years, Racing Products Warehouse has teamed up with Levins Automotive to put on the well known “Northern California Automotive Show” held in Pleasanton in early spring each year. This show is famous because it is exclusive to “Jobbers Only” which gives our customers a true one on one experience with actual factory representatives and allows them to an exclusive environment and feel of a wholesale only show.

Racing Products Warehouse is proud to offer worldwide shipping daily with old fashion quality customer service!

- Dean Tognotti, President