Smithers Winter Test Center, Michigan

An independent vehicle and components test facility especially for testing in cold weather and snow conditions. Developed on Raco Field, a former military outlying airfield in the Upper Peninsula, associated with nearby Kincheloe Air Force Base, which closed in the mid 1970s. Raco Field was acquired by the Smithers Company, a testing, compliance, and consulting company, based in Akron, Ohio in 1975. The company uses this site for its Rubber and Plastics Research Association division, and for managing test and compliance for other company’s vehicular products.