Since I haven't used the tires I may have this wrong, but aren't the American Racer tires that are used in the IRS series the Mini-Mod/Dwarf car tires?

Mike Fulper's All Star Club used the same tire for a few years.

The IRS cars at Sun Prarie are about 1-1.5 Seconds slower than the Reg. Show. Of course the motors are restricted as well, so I don't know the real speed difference in the tires. I do know that Don would not have been happy to have been more regulated after winning a few races like some of the guys were after some of the dirt shows last year. Some of the guys had to run different air pressure than the others to even up the competition.

I have no idea what the price to make a tire costs and I have to say that I felt it was pretty much a joke when they built the Hoosier rear Focus tire and sold it for $95ea. but still charged $120 plus for the fronts. Hoosier has to make money off of racing to be profitable.

Me personally, while I think the tire deal should be tweeked, I would lose interest very quickly if they went to the Dwarf car style tire. While I believe the IRS series has it's place, and I have watched them run a few times at Illiana when they where on Mickey Thompson's and with other shows, I personally wouldn't want to either watch them on a regular basis or go race with them on a regular basis. Good guys and alright racing, but to me it's not the same.

When Bill started running his own car in the 70's, there where already dirt and pavement tires, but you could get many shows out of the tires and obviously the same car was used on dirt and pavement. That stayed pretty much true until around '86 for the tires and around '93 for the cars. Sure the racing was cheaper for the owner, but I personally don't feel it was better racing than we have today.
I think the specialized cars and tires help make the racing better today. I personally don't want to go back to the days of dirt/pavement combo tires, but I'm sure a little better compound could be made for longevity. I would also like to see the tires stamped before hot laps.

Don't get me wrong, I saw many great races in the '70's, but I have seen many great races over the last 10-15 yrs. as well. Dirt and Pavement.

Of course we are dealing with a situation where the tire sponsor has to make money from the series because racing is where they make their money. In that situation the company is going to attempt to make a profit.