Forgeline has announced that it is celebrating its 25th anniversary of being in business this year.
This family-owned and managed business is currently operated by twin brothers Dave and Steve Schardt from Dayton, Ohio. The company was founded in 1994 by Steve, who is currently the Global Sales Manager, to address a need within the American road racing market for a custom made-to-order forged wheel that was engineered for racing applications. Besides serving the highest levels of road racing, the company has since extended its product lines to include high-end street applications as well.
“Our goal when we started Forgeline in 1994 was to create high-quality American-made racing wheels, and we’ve exceeded all of our original expectations,” says Forgeline President Dave Schardt. “Today, we’re a much larger operation, but we’re still just as dedicated to quality and performance as we were back then.”
The history of the company goes as far back as 1970, when the Schardt brothers’ father, Jim Schardt, purchased Dayton Wire Wheel and gradually turned it into a successful operation. The brothers grew up working in their father’s factory and also visited several racetracks on the weekends throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The Schardt brothers consequently developed a keen interest in racing as well as for the wheel industry.
Forgeline’s initial product line consisted of a single two-piece forged wheel called the RS which proved to be highly successful. The company had helped RealTime Racing’s PD Cunningham win a World Challenge class championship in 1995. It gradually became a wheel of choice for several vehicles of the World Challenge field.
As of 2019, Forgeline produces more than 120 wheel-models for the racetrack as well as the street. The company’s extensive product line-up features three-piece modular wheels, one-piece forged monoblock wheels and a “Carbon+Forged” hybrid lineup that combines precision-machined forged aluminum centers with lightweight high-tech carbon fibre barrels. Every wheel developed by the company is customized and precision-machined from heat-treated 6061-T6 aluminum that is forged on a 6000-ton hydraulic press to make the strongest foundation possible.
This forging process aligns the grain structure, reduces porosity and increases material uniformity, allowing for extremely high strength-to-weight ratios and ensuring the most consistent quality. Forgeline’s team of craftsmen whose expertise and high standards help develop products of exceptional quality and appearance hand-finish and assemble all wheels. The company’s one-piece forged monoblock GS1R has gained entry into homologated factory racing platforms, such as the Ford Mustang GT4, Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R and Panoz Avezzano GT4. The one-piece forged monoblock GTD1 wheel has been utilized at Nürburgring on the multi-million-dollar class-champion Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus SCG003C.
In a release by the company, Forgeline Motorsports says that the story of its first quarter century has been an impressive success story driven by passion, craftsmanship and innovation. They hope to pave the way to a brighter future ahead through their commitment to the same ideals.
