Sam Winston began selling tires as a teenager after his father's death when his mother married Ray Oliver.

In 1971, Sam would introduce his own private-label tire line, Winston, and in 1976, he began adding services such as brake and wheel alignment repairs.

For many years, beginning in the 1980s, Winston began starring as a pitchman in a series of television and radio commercials for the company.

In 1993, Winston Tire agreed to pay $1.4 million to settle the case out of court, which included reimbursing $450,000 to 20,000 customers.

[2] The company however, suffered a major blow on September 26, 1995, when Sam was killed in an automobile accident in Utah after being ejected from a 1995 Jeep Wrangler that went out of control with his wife Demetra at the wheel.