Stokes Tire Pros pumped over Earth Day Guinness tire inflation record try

In honor of Earth Day, the City of Santa Monica in California hopes to set a Guinness World Record for the most amount of tires checked and inflated with the proper amount of air pressure in a single day.

Twenty-seven area automotive operations are participating in the effort, including Stokes Tire Pros on Santa Monica Boulevard and seven Firestone service centers in the area.

The city of 84,084 residents along the Pacific Ocean coastline is bordered on three sides by Los Angeles.

Stokes Tire Pros was founded in 1976 by Jack Stokes, who with his father had previously owned several gas stations and got into the tire business full-time upon purchasing the retail operation from General Tire. His son Jon, who started servicing cars at age 10, now owns the enterprise.

Ron Champion, a company sales representative, reports that the staff is pumped over pursuing the Guinness record, and the process “creates more opportunities to meet more people and help them with their tire needs.”

The publicity surrounding the tire pressure campaign also heightens motorist awareness about the safety aspects of proper tire inflation, Champion points out.

“We’re proud that the Santa Monica business community has come together to help educate local residents about the benefits of tire pressure checks,” says Laurel Rosen, president and CEO of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce. “Everyone benefits when people work together to minimize our impact on the environment.”

“Our studies show that a driver wastes $800 per year on fuel when driving on a severely under-inflated tire,” notes “Green Team” committee member Joanne Helperin, a senior editor at Edmunds, Inc. “With approximately 250 million vehicles on the road in the United States -- and a government estimate that the average vehicle tire is under-inflated by 26 percent -- there is remarkable potential for saving billions of dollars and tons of fuel.”

She also notes that tire pressure also affects vehicle safety, tire longevity and ride quality.

For more information, visit www.stokestirepros.com, www.smchamber.com and www.edmunds.com/earth-day/.