Wacky World of Rubber: Where the rubber meets the road?

One of the most iconic phrases found in our industry is "Where the rubber meets the road." Now it's probably because of the time I grew up, but I seem to think this phrase only should apply to the old Firestone commercials, which are iconic in their own right.

But of course, that's not the case. The phrase has been brought into our culture and isn't owned by just Firestone and its jingle, and it's famous ending, "The name that's known is Firestone, where the rubber meets the road."

I started thinking (OK, obsessing), on the topic a few weeks ago, when the phrase came up on a couple of different occasions.First, Erin Pustay Beaven, online content editor for Rubber & Plastics News, used the phrase with a summary for a story on Continental. I told her that to me it should only be attached to something to do with Firestone.

Then it was on television. A host of one of the morning cable news programs was talking to a colleague who was in Dayton, Ohio, to host a town hall for some of the Democratic presidential hopefuls. The host said because he was in Dayton, the "rubber capital of the world," (don't get me started on that), with its Firestone plant—yes, Firestone had a tire plant in Dayton back in the day—that at the town hall he needed to yell out "Where the rubber meets the road."

Well, at least he was associating the phrase with Firestone, so I'll give him points on that.

Now even Leo Michael, our longtime editorial cartoonist, has gotten in on the act. For his next cartoon, honoring the retirement of RPN Publisher Dave Zielasko, he uses the tag line "Where the Rubber Guy Meets the Road."

So I had to acknowledge that this phrase goes much deeper than just Firestone and those long-ago commercials.

My research shows a wide range of usage. A passage in Quora.com said the phrase's rise in popularity did coincide with the first airings of the Firestone commercials, that Avon Tyres in Britain used a similar passage, "Where the tyre meets the road," in its ads dating back to the 1940s.

Many online sites weigh in on the origin and meaning. Even the Urban Dictionary has two definitions. One calls it "the moment of truth for something," and the second "where the action is most immediate."

And KnowYourPhrase.com chimes in with "when a theory or idea is put to the test to see if it actually works," or "when things become serious."

There also are other musical uses of the phrase besides the commercial. Meat Loaf had a song titled "Where the Rubber Meets the Road," on his "Welcome to the Neighborhood" CD. Yes, I admit to being a fan of the singer of "Bat Out of Hell" fame.

But that doesn't mean I have to like all of these other references. So that's why I'm going to leave you with a few tidbits about the Firestone jingle.

It was sung on the original commercials by Don Rondo, who sang ballads during the mid-1950s. He first became popular for his rendition of "Two Different Worlds." He apparently also was famous for singing the "It's Us or Rust" commercial for Ziebart.

But now I want you to go listen to one of those early Firestone commercials, and see that this is where the phrase is rightly used. And as an added bonus, there's a good chance you'll have the tune stuck in your head for the next couple of days.

Bruce Meyer is editor of Rubber & Plastics News and he sees rubber-related stories nearly everywhere he goes. Follow him on Twitter @bmeyerRPN.