Granatelli Motor Sports, Inc. was founded in 1989 by the charismatic and always outgoing J.R. Granatelli.  J.R. is the son of the legendary Joe Granatelli, Sr. (chief mechanic of the Granatelli STP Indy racing team and CEO of Paxton Products, Inc.).  Granatelli Motor Sports started by optimizing the performance of the then hottest muscle cars including Camaros, Corvettes, Firebirds and Mustangs.  Testing and tuning dozens of combinations yielded performance found by no other performance tuners in the industry.  In fact, in 1991, Granatelli Motor Sports built one of the fastest “street” Corvettes by going 217MPH in street legal trim and a supercharged Mustang that won the Fastest Ford Shootout competition.  By 1993, Granatelli Motor Sports was absorbed by Paxton Products, Inc. of Camarillo, CA.  You may remember that Paxton was owned by the racing Granatelli’s and made the famous Paxton supercharger a household word among hot rodders. 

During this time, the Granatelli Motor Sports division focused on performance accessories and limited edition tuner cars using the 4^th generation Chevrolet Camaro platform.  Granatelli Motor Sports was the first aftermarket tuner to have a full color catalog of accessories for these cars and even produced a limited run of 150 Granatelli Signature Series Camaros.  The initial vehicle, featured on the cover of the December 1994 issue of Motor Trend, won a tuner car shootout.  Among the field were notable tuners like Lingenfelter Performance Engineering and Doug Rippie Motor Sports.  Thanks to the tremendous distribution network available at its disposal, Granatelli Signature Series performance accessories became popular with many speed shops and most automotive performance mail order retailers like Summit Racing and Jeg’s as well as warehouses like Keystone, Reliable and VSI. Innovations include the first aftermarket torque arm, the first 200 MPH speedometer, the first silicone radiator hoses and the first street legal supercharger system as well as the fabulous Novi 2000 gear driven supercharger system. 

In 1997, J.R. Granatelli decided to leave Paxton and make Granatelli Motor Sports a full time venture.  At this time, he began development of high performance 50-state legal aftermarket replacement mass airflow sensors for GM and Ford late model cars, trucks and SUVs.  Within a year of painstaking research and development on a proprietary mass airflow sensor dyno, Granatelli Motor Sports had accomplished this tremendous feat.  With awareness and distribution getting stronger, it was a natural progression for Granatelli to develop chassis and suspension components for Ford Fox bodied vehicles like the Mustang.  During this time, several project vehicles were built and promoted for Summit Racing equipment including a thousand horsepower modular Mustang.  During 2000 and 2001, J.R. Granatelli made the decision to develop performance parts for the modular Ford engines.  This was a major challenge since no one, up to that point in time, had attempted serious cylinder head, camshaft and racing durability development.  To meet this challenge head on, J.R. embarked on a full-on racing program utilizing the modular Ford engine platform.  Hundreds of hours of engine dyno and racing tests were performed.  The result was the world’s fastest modular powered Mustang, a record still stands.  The technology gathered enabled racer’s and performance enthusiasts everywhere to choose the modular Ford engine platform as a viable alternative to the ever popular 5.0L Ford engine.  Shortly thereafter, Granatelli Motor Sports published a 320 page bible on centrifugal superchargers, “The Complete Guide To Centrifugal Supercharge Impeller Speed.”

Today, Granatelli Motor Sports offers many impressive performance innovations including the world’s fastest and most sophisticated flash tuner, the world’s only S197 calibrated mass airflow sensor, the world’s only production 0hm stainless steel core spark plug wires/coil near plug wires/coil on plug connectors  and modular engine coil packs, the world’s only 4^th Gen F-Body 200MPH speedometer conversion, the world’s most powerful S197 Mustang and C5 Corvette turbo systems and more.  Now, there are three generations of Granatelli to continue this legendary legacy.  Joey “JoJo” Granatelli and Vincenzo “Cenzo” Granatelli, J.R.’s sons, are successfully racing in COR Trophy Kart.

Granatelli Innovations:

Engine:
Paxton SN series supercharger
Novi Indy turbine engine
Paxton Novi 2000 gear driven supercharger
Popularized STP engine oil treatments
GMS 4^th Gen Camaro Torque Arm, 200 MPH speedometer, silicone radiator hoses
GMS 50-state legal high performance replacement mass airflow sensors
GMS 0hm resistance stainless steel core spark plug wires, coil on plug connectors and coil near plug connectors
GMS calibrated MAF & cold air intake for S-197 V-8 Mustang (no computer programming required)
GMS Fuego flash tuner (world’s fastest tuner with most memory and features available)

Racing:
Indy 500 winner (1969, 1972, 1978, 1982)
300+ world land speed records at Bonneville Salt Flats
Pioneered 3.8L Buick turbo development at the Indy 500
World’s fastest modular engine Mustang (2001)
World’s most powerful street legal Camaro (1982)
World’s most powerful street legal Corvette (2006)
World’s first Pratt & Whitney powered gas turbine Corvette (1978)

Industry:
Pioneered performance mail order speed shop (GranCor)
Pioneered jobber and warehouse distribution in mail order speed business (GranCor)
Pioneered chain store lube and tune shops (Tune-Up Masters)
Pioneered distributed performance parts for 4^th Gen Camaro / Firebirds (Granatelli Motor Sports)