NASCAR will continue to roll with Goodyear
NASCAR and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company announced last week a renewed partnership deal which will see the tire maker provide racing tires for the top three NASCAR series.
No terms were specified for the renewed sponsorship. Goodyear has been involved with NASCAR since 1954, one of the longest relationships in sports.
The longest affiliation of this nature that comes to mind is between Scuderia Ferrari and oil producer Shell, a pact that goes back to the first year of the Formula 1 Championship in 1950.
While Goodyear has been the tire of choice for NASCAR exclusively since 1997, there have been nibbles from others. Firestone provided tires to Cup cars until 1974 and did some limited tire testing in 2008, and products from Hoosier Tire were used from 1987 through 1994.
Hoosier, an Indiana-based tire maker that started in 1957, has been a giant in building racing tires for both dirt and pavement oval track racing, drag racing, and road circuits.
Before the recent NASCARGoodyear pact, there was speculation Continental Tire would be interested in supplying tires to NASCAR’s top three oval series. Hoosier was purchased by Continental in 2016. Through Continental’s General brand, it is tire supplier to the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) oval-track series.
Continental is also a main player in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Challenge, North America’s biggest sport car series. IMSA is under the ownership of the International Speedway Corporation, also owners of NASCAR.
Perhaps Continental, which is the fourth-largest tire maker in the world, had no desire in challenging Goodyear for the NASCAR contract.
Michelin supplies race tires in NASCAR’s Whelen Euro Series but appears not to be interested in expanding to similar North America race series, content to build tires for the European teams that thrash around circuits such as Valencia, Brands Hatch, and Circuit Zolder in their Mustang, Camry and Chevy SS-bodied stockers.
The Goodyears used today are certainly safer and more reliable than the “police pursuit” tires used on Cup race cars in the 1950s before the development of proprietary competition tires.
Today, each race team uses nine to 14 sets of Goodyears depending on the track and its surface. Pumped up with 50 psi of nitrogen and 12-inches wide, each tire costs close to US$400, and there are 18 various rubber compound specifications for track and weather conditions.
The Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame has ushered in its third class of inducted members.
Held over the weekend in Montreal, the CDRHF recognized 22 for their contribution to the sport.
Included in this group are Jim Wildgoose of Stoney Creek, a veteran local racer and 15-time NHRA record holder, Pro Modified engine builder and tuner Al Billes of Barrie, and John Philipps, the man responsible for Ford of Canada’s performance program in the 1960s.
The World Racing Group has released its 2018 Craftsman World of Outlaws schedule with an eye-popping 91 races for its 40th season.
And of those 91 events, only one will be held in Canada, and that will once again be the Arrow Express/ Six Nations Showdown July 23-24 at Ohsweken Speedway. Tickets for this race will be available Dec. 1.
The WoO Tour begins in Florida Feb. 9 at Volusia Speedway Park and finishes up Nov. 3 on the dirt track at Charlotte. Between those dates the Sprint Car teams will travel more than 30,000 miles across North America visiting 53 dirt ovals.
Next year’s tour will offer some huge prize money for the teams. April’s race in Mesquite, Texas will offer $20,000 to win. The Ironman 55 in Illinois in August will pay $40,000 to the winner, and the June running of the Jackson Nationals in Minnesota will also pay $40,000 to the winner. The September Williams Grove National Open in Pennsylvania ups that with a $56,000 payday to the victor.
The popular Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in mid-July will pay out $50,000 to the winner, but the iconic Knoxville Nationals in Iowa, a four-day event in early July, will offer $150,000 for the winner of Saturday’s feature. For good reason, the WoO is calling this period on its schedule “The Month of Money.”
And remember, all these dollar amounts are in American funds.