Good 'ol USAC gotta love em

In CRA the teams are aware that you can run the F-55 tire when track conditions require it,I know we carry a couple of them in the trailer all the time( just in case). But I also know that our Hoosier dealer doesn't carry very many of those tires due to the fact that very rarely do we face such bad track conditions.
I don't know if it really made a difference that Darren had a 55 on his car,since earlier this year when he drove the car I work on at Vegas with similar track conditions and we ran a 2 compound and it went the entire 30 laps,while other teams ran a 55 and had no more tire left than we had.Darren in my opinion is very good at working the throttle and keeping the car hooked up and not abusing his tires.:clauson:

Page 10 photo in NSSN on 10/31/07 shows Hagen's RR tire with smoke coming from it.

Rob, the F-55 deal originated on the west coast during the SCRA days. When the RC1/2 became the spec tire there were a lot of problems at Manzanita. The RC1 wouldn't last and the RC2 had a tendency to delaminate and throw the tread off the tire. That is when they first allowed the F-55 out of desperation because it was a crapshoot whether or not you could finish the race on an RC2. We did a bunch of tire testing at Manzy with Hoosier and they got the RC2 sorted out but the F-55 allowance stayed on the books. It became pretty rare that you would need one. When they steamrolled SCRA under, the new group's rules became a hybrid of SCRA/USAC rules and the F-55 rule got grandfathered in. I'm sure the issue never came up for the National guys because they didn't have a tire rule prior to this year. I was under the impression that once USAC/CRA adopted the DT-3 that the F-55 was no longer legal. Apparently most everyone else thought the same thing.

I'm not defending anyone's decision here, just giving some background into the F-55 deal.

Is this what T-Mac meant when he replied..."USAC has too many rules", when Buckley (Jackslash) asked him about running with them...after stating that he loves the non-winged racing?

Like the outlaws don't have too many rules? Geez.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that USAC made a call like this. Look at USAC's history it is littered with horribly bad calls. 1997 Indy 500, the new Silver Crown car, ditching the old pavement Silver Crown chassis, etc.

I do have a question: Why doesn't USAC just make the hardest tire available the standard on the dirt and pavement and take the tire wear and vulnerability completely out of the equation?