Tunnel History

Tunnel. One of the great names in skateboarding for wheels and skateboards. Whether bombing Signal Hill at over 50 miles per hour or carving empty California pools or pumping past vert in desert pipes, Tunnel wheels and boards were always up to the task. Once again, Tunnel is making wheels and decks of the highest quality!

Tunnel, also known through the years as Tunnel Products or Tunnel Skateboards, was founded in 1975 by California surfer Mitch Haake. Mitch grew up in San Francisco and his love for skateboarding started when he made his own skateboard with metal wheels nailed to a 2 by 4. Next up came a stint in Ensenada, Mexico, where Mitch lived out of his VW bus. Unable to find a decent surfboard, Mitch shaped his own and was soon making high-quality surfboards for friends.

In 1975, Mitch moved back to California where he opened a store where he sold surfboards and T-shirts. That summer, California was hit by a drought, and the result was a perfect world for skateboarders who were always looking for concrete spillways, empty pools, pipes and tunnels to conquer. Skateboarding exploded and Mitch started making skateboard decks and wheels, and when word got out about his great products, he struggled to keep them in stock. Mitch named his new company Tunnel, and the name Tunnel soon became synonymous with the best-quality products and a cool sense of style.

Tunnel specialized in wheels, and its’ first wheel was a center set urethane wheel with a shock-absorbing lip on both sides. It was a true innovation in the world of skateboarding. Tunnel wheels performed great in contests, even carrying the world’s fastest woman skateboarder into The Guinness Book of World Records. In conversation, skateboarders usually followed the word “Tunnel” with “wheels”.

In 1977, Mitch created the Tunnel Rock, among the most famous wheels ever produced for skateboarding. The Tunnel Rock was the first hard wheel and super fast, and it changed skateboarding forever. No other wheel of the day even came close as the wheel brought the Tunnel name down to Dogtown. Mitch also created Team Tunnel, one of the greatest skateboarding teams of the ‘70s, and the team’s skaters soon found themselves on the cover of SkateBoarder Magazine.

Tunnel continues to make great skateboard products. Today, the Tunnel Rocks wheels come in a variety of colors and hardnesses, and the Tunnel skateboard decks are high quality and made in California. Tunnel apparel is both stylish and comfortable, and Tunnel has hired top artists, such as Jimbo Phillips of Santa Cruz, to keep Tunnel on the cutting edge.

Tunnel Rocks again!

All photos on this site have been reproduced with the permission of the photographers for use only by Tunnel Products.