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Today, Goodyear measures sales of nearly $20 billion, but we began in a converted strawboard factory in Ohio. Leading our industry for over one hundred years, we’ve accomplished many firsts that reflect our drive, skill, and total commitment to our ideals and industry. See the evolution of Goodyear history and tire history below.

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  1898 Frank A. Seiberling borrowed $3,500 from his brother-in-law Lucius C. Miles for the down payment to buy an abandoned strawboard factory in Akron, founding the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

  1899 Automobile tires are added to the original product line of bicycle tires, carriage tires, and horseshoe pads

  1901 The first advertisement with the wingfoot trademark appears in the Saturday Evening Post

  1908 The first diamond-studded All-Weather tread design is adopted, and used with only minor modifications for nearly 40 years

  1914 All the cars in the Indianapolis 500 use Goodyear tires

  1916 Goodyear becomes the world's largest tire company, initiating the slogan "More people ride on Goodyear tires than on any other kind"

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  1934 The Earthmover tire is introduced....The first studded mud and snow tires are announced

  1939 Goodyear tires are used on Admiral Richard Byrd's Snow Cruiser for Antarctic expedition

  1947 The first nylon tires are developed

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  1965 Less than two years after entering international racing competitions, Goodyear wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans, France

  1969 Goodyear's first $3 billion sales year – it only took five years to go from $2 billion to $3 billion

  1970 The first tires on the moon, through the Apollo 14 mission, are supplied by Goodyear

  1973 Keep America Beautiful, Inc., selected Goodyear's corporate-wide environmental improvement program as the nation's finest

  1974 The U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare presents Goodyear with the Outstanding Public Service Award for promoting the 1973 Social Security programs on its blimps

  1975 All the drivers in the Indianapolis 500 use Goodyear tires, marking the first time in 13 years one company has been the sole supplier

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  1977 Goodyear introduced two notable advances in tire design: the Tiempo, a tire for year-round use in all climates, and the revolutionary Elliptic tire with a capacity for fuel savings

  1978 Goodyear scrap tires are reused as construction material for more than 2,000 artificial reefs and floating breakwaters

  1981 Goodyear's method of chemically disposing of hazardous PCBs is honored by a White House agency, receiving the 1981 Environmental Industry Award

  1987 Goodyear produces the first original equipment, performance tire (the Eagle ZR40 Gatorback) for the 1988 Chevrolet Corvette

  1993 Consumer Digest magazine names the Goodyear Eagle GA tire a "Best Buy" for 1993

  1995 Goodyear marks its 1,000th NASCAR® Winston Cup victory

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  2001 The U.S. Postal Service selects Goodyear to be their exclusive ground tire supplier for the next 10 years

  2003 The Eagle F1 GS-D3 wins the NorTech Innovation Award

  2005 Goodyear introduces Duraseal, a revolutionary commercial tire technology that repairs punctures when they occur

  2007 Government funding facilitates a Goodyear-NASA partnership, resulting in Goodyear developing tires for NASA’s Mars exploration

  2008 Audit Integrity and Forbes magazine recognize Goodyear as one of America’s most trustworthy companies

  2009 Goodyear is recognized as one of the Greenest Big Companies in America by Newsweek magazine….Goodyear’s Assurance Fuel Max tire is named one of the 100 Most Innovative Products of the Year by Popular Science magazine