Cooper Tire Buys Mickey Thompson

Cooper Tire & Rubber has purchased Max Trac Tire Co, which is better known as Mickey Thompson. Max Trac leased locations in Stow (Ohio) and Temecula (California) where it distributed tyres for specialist racing applications and off road use. Cooper acquires two tyre brands with the purchase – Mickey Thompson and Dick Cepek.

Cooper Tire has supplied Mickey Thompson for a number of years, providing tyres under the Mickey Thompson and Dick Cepek names. In addition, Mickey Thompson has distributed and provided trackside assistance for Cooper’s Avon racing tires, which are produced in Melksham, England. There are no anticipated changes in Mickey Thompson’s current relationship with suppliers of tires, wheels or other accessories.

”We’ve had a great partnership for years and now we can combine our resources for even more opportunities around the world,” said Mark F. Armstrong, president of Cooper’s North American Tire Division. “We will immediately start to identify areas in which we can take advantage of Mickey Thompson’s expertise and name recognition to help promote Cooper’s image in the racing, performance and off-road tyre arena,” said Armstrong.

This purchase comes shortly after the announcement that Johnny Unser, a top Indy car circuit driver since 1993, will be a performance tyre advisor for Cooper, an indication of its plans to grow significantly in the Ultra High Performance market segment.”We have an aggressive plan to grow sales in the H-V-Z segments which are the fastest growing tyre lines in the U.S.

today. And, we have an even stronger presence in the radial light truck and SUV segments. This Mickey Thompson deal, with its racing and off-road connections, will help us in these efforts,” concluded Armstrong.