Many great success stories of the twentieth century started from a small garage. Among them is that of Bell. In 2024, the brand celebrates its 70th anniversary since it began producing helmets for motor racing. From the workshop of an auto parts shop in a suburb of Los Angeles, Bell Auto Parts, Roy Richter created what would become the industry’s leader, being a pioneer in safety and protection of legendary drivers as well as amateurs all around the world.
19-year-old Richter began his career in 1933, after graduating high school by going to work at Bell Auto Parts, established in 1923 as one of the first documented speed shops in the United States, jumpstarting his interest in motorsport. For a short time, Richter was a professional driver himself, before switching his focus to building race cars and products, achieving several victories. In 1945, he sold his car and spent all the money he earned to buy Bell Auto Parts for $1,000, demonstrating his entrepreneurial attitude.
Some months after the death of a second close friend in a racing accident, Richter decided to dedicate more of his life to creating safer racing products. Still in the post-war period, car drivers were in the habit of simply wearing goggles and a leather cap, which provided no protection in the event of impact. Concerns about the risk of injuries and fatalities, however, were growing.
In this context, in 1954, Richter produced the first-ever proper hard-shell helmet for motorsport, the 500. It was the result of several months of research and development. The fiberglass shell was hand-laminated, combined with a polyurethane liner. The construction process was quite expensive, but Richter was convinced that it would guarantee superior robustness, and he was right.
Richter was helped by veteran U.S. Navy pilot Frank Heacox with reverse-engineering numerous helmet types, and testing firsthand the prototypes made, in races as well as on the street. In November of that same year, several members of the Bill Stroppe Lincoln Team wore the 500 in the legendary Carrera Panamericana road race, run in Mexico over 8 stages and 3,070 kilometers, creating great word of mouth for the new Bell helmets.
Less than a year after the beginning of its auto racing helmets production, Bell was already equipping drivers at the start of the Indianapolis 500, Americas’ most important race. One of those drivers was Carl Niday, who crashed violently on lap 177 of the 1955 running. Niday sustained many injuries, including a skull fracture, but gave credit to the helmet in preventing worse consequences, thus saving his life. This happy ending also contributed to soaring sales of Bell helmets, which were exceeding all expectations. In 1956 Bell Helmet Company, a business dedicated to racing helmets, was born, with the first full-time employees being hired and a dedicated facility set up, albeit close to the original Bell Auto Parts location.
