The Bridgestone Tire Co., Ltd. was established on March 1, 1931, by Shojiro Ishibashi in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. The company's name is a calque translation and transposition of the founder's surname, meaning "stone bridge" in Japanese. The first Bridgestone tire was produced on April 9, 1930, by the Japanese "Tabi" Socks Tire Division. Following World War II, the company began manufacturing bicycles in 1949 and motorcycles in 1952. Bridgestone eventually ceased motorcycle manufacturing to protect its business of supplying tires to rival manufacturers such as Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha.
Bridgestone began investing in motorsport in the 1980s, developing racing tires for feeder series like Formula 2, Formula 3, Formula Ford, Formula Opel Lotus, and karting. Between 1981 and 1984, the company participated in European Formula 2, during which Hiroshi Yasukawa, general manager of the Motorsport Department, established logistics and networks that would later support the company's entry into top-tier racing.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bridgestone supplied tires for Le Mans sport prototypes to teams Nismo and TOM's, which were backed by Japanese automobile manufacturers Nissan and Toyota, respectively. Bridgestone later expanded its supply to Mercedes-AMG for entries in the DTM, Le Mans, and the FIA GT Championship.
Bridgestone's initial involvement in Formula One included one-off productions for the 1976 and 1977 Japanese Grands Prix, supplying Japanese entrants such as Kojima and Kazuyoshi Hoshino's Heros Racing. In 1995, CEO Yoichiro Kaizaki supported the decision to supply tires for Formula One, aiming to enhance Bridgestone's brand recognition in the European market, where it lagged behind rival Michelin.
The company's full-scale entry was initially planned for the 1998 season but was moved forward to 1997 due to rapid development by the engineering section, led by Hirohide Hamashima. Success came in 1998 when Mika Häkkinen and McLaren-Mercedes secured the first title for a Bridgestone user. During its competition with Goodyear (1997–1998) and Michelin (2001–2006), Bridgestone users achieved five Drivers' Championship titles and five Constructors' Championship titles. A notable partnership during this period was with Scuderia Ferrari and Michael Schumacher. From 2007 to 2010, Bridgestone was the sole tire supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, following Michelin’s decision to end its Formula One tire program at the end of the 2006 season.
On November 2, 2009, Bridgestone announced it would not renew its contract to supply Formula One after the 2010 season, citing the need to address the “continuing evolution of the business environment.” Pirelli was announced as the sole tire supplier for the 2011 season.
In 1995, Bridgestone Firestone NAH Ltd. re-entered the Firestone brand into CART open-wheel racing to increase brand awareness and compete with Goodyear. After Goodyear left the series for 2000, Firestone became the single tire provider for the successor Champ Car World Series, the IndyCar Series, and its feeder series Indy NXT. In June 2022, Bridgestone opened a $21 million Advanced Tire Production Center in Akron, Ohio, to manufacture Firestone Firehawk racing tires for the NTT IndyCar Series.
Bridgestone entered the Grand Prix motorcycle racing's main class, MotoGP, in 2002. From 2009 to 2015, it was the exclusive tire supplier for the championship, reaching 100 MotoGP victories in 2012. Nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi, who won two MotoGP titles on Bridgestone tires in 2008 and 2009, later served as a "Bridgestone Tyre Adviser." In May 2014, Bridgestone announced its departure from MotoGP at the end of the 2015 season.
While Bridgestone left international sports car racing in 2000, it remains a main supplier in the Super GT series. Since April 2023, Bridgestone has been the main tire supplier for the Super Taikyu championship series.
The company supported aspiring young sports journalists through the Bridgestone e-reporter competition, a pan-European program for students to report on GP2 race weekends. Bridgestone was also the sole tire supplier for the GP2 series, an open-wheeled racing championship considered a feeder series for Formula One.
Beyond automotive racing, Bridgestone's sports involvement has included acquiring the naming rights to the home venue of the NHL's Nashville Predators, now known as Bridgestone Arena. The company was also the title sponsor for Copa Libertadores, the top competition for South American club football, from 2013 to 2017, and Copa Sudamericana from 2011 to 2013. Bridgestone was the Official Tire of the Olympic Games, a partnership that concluded at the end of 2024.
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