Interstate Battery System of America, Inc., a.k.a. Interstate Batteries, is a US privately owned battery marketing and distribution company. It markets automotive batteries manufactured by

Brookfield Business Partners Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership and the primary public vehicle through which Brookfield Asset Management, its parent company, owns and operates the business services and industrial operations of its pr ...

Exide Technologies Exide was originally a brand name for batteries produced by The Electric Storage Battery Company and later became Exide Corporation doing business as Exide Technologies, an American multinational lead-acid batteries manufacturing company. It ...

, and others through independent distributors. The company is headquartered in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and it also markets marine/RV, mobility, motorcycle, lawn and garden, and other lines of batteries in the starting, lighting and ignition (SLI) markets. Interstate Batteries operates a distributor network that supplies batteries to over 200,000 dealers. They also have distributors in Bermuda, Bolivia, Canada, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Additionally, they operate over 200 corporate and franchise owned retail stores.

History

In the spring of 1950, John Searcy began selling and delivering car batteries to wholesalers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area from the back of his red

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers M ...

pickup truck. After two years, Searcy founded his new company, naming it Interstate Battery System after the new

interstate highway system The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

being built across the U.S.Interstate History In 1978, John Searcy retired and left the company under the leadership of President and Chairman Norm Miller. Norm Miller continued the company's expansion so that by the 1980s Interstate Battery had distributorships in all 50 US states and Canada. During that time they also created the Interstate Batteries Great American Race, which for 13 years took vintage car owners and their vehicles on a two-week, cross-country rally. This led to other marketing schemes such as advertising on the

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...

news radio show, running national TV commercials, and sponsoring champion. In 1990, Norm's brother Tommy Miller became Interstate Battery's president and CEO while Norm remained chairman of the board. As a result, Interstate Battery became heavily involved in

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

. Interstate Battery became title sponsor of coach

Joe Gibbs Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and a ...

' new Winston Cup team in 1992 which eventually won the

Winston Cup Championship The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971, ...

in 2000. In March 2004, Carlos Sepulveda became president and CEO and went on to lead the company for almost a decade until leaving in 2013 to join Triumph Bancorp Group. Norm Miller's son Scott became president and CEO in 2013.

Motorsports

Interstate Batteries currently sponsors

driver

Kyle Busch Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...

and the

Joe Gibbs Racing Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) is an American professional stock car racing organization owned and operated by former Washington Redskins (today the Washington Commanders) coach Joe Gibbs, which first started racing on the NASCAR circuit in 1991. His s ...

team. Other notable drivers include

Bobby Labonte Robert Allen Labonte (born May 8, 1964) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current analyst for ''NASCAR on Fox''. He also currently competes full-time in the Superstar Racing Experience, driving the No. 18 car. ...

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champio ...

Matt Kenseth Matthew Roy Kenseth (born March 10, 1972) is an American former professional stock car racing driver. He drives the No. 8 car in the Superstar Racing Experience. (SRX) Kenseth started racing on several short tracks in Wisconsin and won track cha ...

(as standby driver in 1999 at Darlington and as main driver in 2017 at Daytona the Clash race) and

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...

. In 2010, the company began sponsoring

NHRA The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...

Pro Stock driver Mike Edwards.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.interstatebatteries.com/ Companies based in Dallas Auto parts suppliers of the United States