M+H Tire building in Watertown

The building was just on the news, major fire. Wonder how bad. Anyone have any pics of the place when it was M+H? I remember going there with my dad as a kid and seeing all the racers getting new sneakers.

 

i wonder if that was the building i went by this morning? fire crew was still there,..i thought i was in waltham,but its right next to watertown?

 

Here's a neat little tale ... As some here may know, the letters "M&H" stood for Marvin and Harry Rifchin. Marvin's a huge part of racing history, of course, but Harry was his less-well-known dad. One day in the late '70s, I rode to Watertown with a buddy to pick up some tires for a modified stock car. I believe it was an after-hours pickup, or maybe a Saturday morning, so the place was going to be closed up, but Marvin knew we were coming. We pounded on the door, which an older gentleman unlocked. He let us in, said that Marvin was "out back" in the shop, and returned to his desk. When we strolled into the shop area, Marvin grinned and asked how we'd gotten in, and we said something about how the "old guy" out front had opened the door for us. "Oh," smiled Marvin, "so you met my father!"

Now, at this time, Marvin would have been 64 or 65 ... and both he AND HIS DAD were still working. Good ol' American grit.

Great men, those two, and Marvin's presence is missed today whenever someone mashes the throttle and lights up the tires.

Gosh, what I wouldn't give for a handful of those iconic "M&H Racemaster" decals, the round, yellow ones ...

Sorry to read about the building ...

 

Many years ago, while at the CA Hot Rod Reunion, I had the honor of an elevator ride with Mr. Rifchin (notice MR....I'm from the old school) to the 1st floor of the motel we were both in, in Bakersfield. My wife and I, and Mr. Rifchin's guest, shared a motel breakfast before leaving for the track...............WHAT A GENTLEMAN, and comedian. He regaled us with memories of "name" racers from "back in the day." Another legend of the "Golden Era" probably never to be duplicated..............Thanks Mr. Rifchin.

 

True enough, boogeracng, Mr. Rifchin was one of a kind. The amazing thing is, he was revered and respected by drag guys, stock car guys, midget guys ... if they knew racing, they knew of M&H, and they knew of Marvin Rifchin, who put the "master" in Racemaster.

 

found the news report, it says 300-main street,i always thought m/h was around 400-main street?,...can anybody confirm? http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertow...siness-block-in-Watertown?img=4#axzz2MF2qtMoD

 

I remember seeing one or two M&H tire trucks in the pits Saturday night at the Danbury, Ct. Racearena. Did they have a fleet of trucks that hit the other tracks? Must have been quite a job producing all the tires needed at the time. Bob

 

m&h tires were made at the old denman tire plant in warren ,ohio its gone now two torn down

 

I saw Marv many times personally when he himself would bring stock car tires down to Seekonk Speedway which is also in MA

 

Marv was a good friend. Many will speak of him that way. I road raced, SCCA and IMSA Camaros in the early 70s. Always had used Firestones. M&H mounted them for me. One day Marv asked if I would try his stock car tires for a race at Lime Rock. He gave me two full sets at no charge. They worked just as well as the Firestones. When I reported that to Marv his face had the biggest smile I have ever seen.
He was a brilliant business man. A clever technical type. A GREAT friend to all racers.
His passing was a sad day for many of us.

 

I had that sticker on my car about 1983.
It was "Traction by M&H Racemaster"

 

I drove one of the trucks to some of the NHRA races in the 70s. At that point I recall there being only 2 or 3 International box trucks in the yard at Watertown.

 

The building was on Main street Watertown almost at the corner of Waverly Ave. Not sure of the number. They also had a place in Gardner, MA and had the stock car tires recapped in the Ohio plant and Ohio also did most of their production. They did the research and built the casts in Watertown and Gardner. Marvin, gave away a lot of tires to racers. They were his "test" cars. Great man.
My father used to take us down when we new the big name guys were going to be there. We could see the cars up close, sometimes they would fire them up and put on a little show.