[Charles Nungester]

I started viewing the sport when many cages were bolt on, the motors barely had the compression to run Methanol and both Motors and Tires lasted many races. The power went up but until the late 70's early 80's it was still mostly grooved drag tires MT's and Double Diamond. Is something like this viable now? Probably been ten years since I talked with Troy link but he ran the hardest tire he could find all the time and claimed to get about 15 races replaced pistons rods and mains twice a season running mostly once but sometimes twice a week.. Of course if there wasn;'t a cushion to lean on, he was getting ate up in the corners.

But who cares? You won't be seeing many New track records with a hard tire. But dang, 20-30k tire bills for a season. What if you could cut it to 5k.

Another problem solved would eliminate the need for the thumper motors. In fact, some nights a 305-360 might be the better option.

Or leave it as is? I imagine half of Paragon regulars do something like that anyway. Is the racing any worse?

Inquiring minds. Just want our sport to survive and possibly grow. Might even sound silly to some. That's ok.

[flagboy55]

Charles, you and I have been in agreement lately. Thanks for bringing up the double diamond, haven’t heard that in a while. It’s my opinion, as now just a fan, that the sport has adjusted to the basic costs and is growing. I believe the biggest threat to the sport is the same as affects all of us, the cost of doing business. As we know tires are a big cost in the sport we love. I recommend everyone to check out a recent Winged Nation podcast with Steve Post. He has a Hoosier guy on and also sprint car owner operator Brent Marks on. Very insightful. Charles, when you realize, like I’m sure you do, costs have skyrocketed, for teams and fans, the biggest threat is, well I’m going to stop short of making a political reference.

[Charles Nungester]

Originally Posted by flagboy55 Charles, you and I have been in agreement lately. Thanks for bringing up the double diamond, haven’t heard that in a while. It’s my opinion, as now just a fan, that the sport has adjusted to the basic costs and is growing. I believe the biggest threat to the sport is the same as affects all of us, the cost of doing business. As we know tires are a big cost in the sport we love. I recommend everyone to check out a recent Winged Nation podcast with Steve Post. He has a Hoosier guy on and also sprint car owner operator Brent Marks on. Very insightful. Charles, when you realize, like I’m sure you do, costs have skyrocketed, for teams and fans, the biggest threat is, well I’m going to stop short of making a political reference.

No, lets not go political. Inflation is hitting everyone (They can decide why by themselves)

I will say there is more teams with the good stuff today than ever, But still the majority are not top motor, new tire teams. Probably a motor thats been rebuilt ten times and used tires most of the time.

[kinser]

From what I’ve heard from my Hoosier source they are afraid they may be out of tires by the end of the summer. I don’t know if there is a concrete solution for the tire problem. My opinion is that the WOO, Extreme and USAC should have a one right rear a night rule. That would cut down on a lot of the cost. Some if not all of the Outlaws teams are going through 4-6 tires a night.

[Charles Nungester]

Originally Posted by kinser From what I’ve heard from my Hoosier source they are afraid they may be out of tires by the end of the summer. I don’t know if there is a concrete solution for the tire problem. My opinion is that the WOO, Extreme and USAC should have a one right rear a night rule. That would cut down on a lot of the cost. Some if not all of the Outlaws teams are going through 4-6 tires a night.

No offense meant but I was trying to get out of the Hoosier domination and apparently non curing of them. There used to be hundred lap sprint car features, Even triple 50s. Think a Hoosier Medium or even Hard could do that today?

[kinser]

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester No offense meant but I was trying to get out of the Hoosier domination and apparently non curing of them. There used to be hundred lap sprint car features, Even triple 50s. Think a Hoosier Medium or even Hard could do that today?

Guarantee they couldn’t do it today. I agree with you I’d like like to see some competition in the tire business. When there isn’t any competition there isn’t much R&D going on when you’re the only game in town.

[Charles Nungester]

Originally Posted by kinser Guarantee they couldn’t do it today. I agree with you I’d like like to see some competition in the tire business. When there isn’t any competition there isn’t much R&D going on when you’re the only game in town.

You just said he magic words, R&D. Johnny Gibson on Twitter complimented Bacon for not stopping, Bringing out a yellow with two to go and probably causing many more cautions of one after another tire failures before the feature ended Saturday in the shortened WoO feature. From some I talk to. The mediums not just now, DO NOT do well in colder weather. Sure it was abrasive but we've seen the balding and chunked tires at Lawrenceburg opener and Bubba a few times.

[EldoraMark]

Charles 100 lap feature is nothing. Eldora ran a 500 lap race for 3 years. Rick Ferkle told me he ran the entire race with the same tire.

[Speedwrench]

Originally Posted by EldoraMark Charles 100 lap feature is nothing. Eldora ran a 500 lap race for 3 years. Rick Ferkle told me he ran the entire race with the same tire.

So did Orville Yeadon who won the first one in 1965. He also ran that same tire in the other two 500,s.

[Tim]

Folks,

To answer the question, yes, there are options to allow more races with the same tire(s). Hoosier still makes Silver Crown tires (as far as I know) up to the F85 and 95 tires used for the miles. It would seem to me that if these tires will last 100+ laps on a 1 mile track they should last 2-4 race nights. The trouble with this, however, is that the fewer tires that are needed, the fewer the manufacturer can make and still be profitable enough to keep investors, etc. satisfied. So then, it becomes a balancing act, attempting to run out of inventory at exactly the same time the last tire is needed (this is called just-in-time, or lean, manufacturing). Most, if not all, manufacturers of goods use this method to maximize profit. They just got caught short with the issues of the last few years and are having problems catching up.

Tim Simmons