Marvin Rifchin

Competitor, Car Owner, Tire Manufacturer
CLASS OF 1999

Marvin Rifchin, owner of the former M&H Tire in Watertown, started in racing after WWII as the owner of midgets. Later on he got involved in stock cars. His cars raced at many area tracks, including Thompson & Waterford. He later became a car owner, with his greatest success with the #7 Pinto modified, driven by Ron Bouchard in the late 1970’s winning Modified Championships together at Seekonk Speedway (1977) and Stafford Speedway (1979).

But Marvin is mostly remembered as a racing tire manufacturer and innovator. It was very difficult to get racing tires for local cars on the 40s so Marvin formed M&H Tires with his father Harry and provided all types of racing tires for stock cars, midgets and dragsters.

He also had a close affiliation with NEMA Midgets going all the way back to their inaugural season in 1953. Rifchin provided tires to NEMA Champions from Bill Eldridge to Dave Humphrey to Drew Fornoro over the years.

Marvin recalls that, unlike today, there were no track tires nor any regulations on tires. M&H or Firestone were the two main choices for early racing tires. With the limited technology of the time, everything was trial and error. He estimates that, between midgets, stock cars, dragsters, and formula cars, he sold over 100,000 tires through the years. After over 40 years in the business, Rifchin sold M&H Tires to Interco Tire Company in 1996.

Like so many others, Marvin sees money as the biggest change in racing over the years, “In the early days, everybody was so broke, I’d have to give ‘em a tire every now and then to keep ‘em going. You know, I worked with a lot of fellows in racing, and I never found a bad one.”

Marvin Rifchin passed away in June of 2009. He was 94 years old.