Why doesn't NASCAR ever use rain tires? Just put a set of windshield wipers on the car at the shop and have the rain tires ready. I've stopped watching races while there were rain delays and never watched the end of the race because of better things to watch than rain falling on a track and everyone talking to everyone else. All I'm trying to say is that NASCAR would get better ratings from races that are affected by the weather if they use rain tires.

In the past NASCAR has had rain tires ready at the road courses, and the cars were equiped with a windshield wiper. But since the Cup Series only runs 2 road courses a year, and rain usually isn't a factor, it seems they no longer make these preparations. The same seems to be true of the Nationwide Series. Rain tires on an oval would be totally impractical. At least on a road course the cars would probably end up on the grass or gravel. On an oval more cars would be in the wall then would be left on the track. A 500 mile race at little more then pace car speed would put everybody to sleep. Including the drivers!

Actually, Goodyear has maintained their Nationwide rain tire program. This is from last week's Dallas Star-Telegram:

Rain (tires) won't go away: Fans looking for something different during the Nationwide Series events in Mexico City and Canada should pray for rain. Greg Stucker, Goodyear Racing's director of race tire sales, said the manufacturer has not abandoned its rain-tire program.

"We've had it for road-racing since the mid-1990s," Stucker reminded. "It's just never happened that NASCAR wanted to utilize it in a race condition.

"But we have had it available and conducted race sessions with it. And we'll continue to have it available. If you look at the Nationwide Series now, they go to Mexico City and to Canada. We don't have a lot of versatility in our dates there. If we get rain, we want to make sure we can put on a show for those folks."

http://www.star-telegram.com/340/story/573589.html

God I hope it rains.

Too bad it didn't rain today.

Rain tires on an oval would pose a huge problem. With no low speed turns, tires are under constant stress and would likely overheat.

I have considered the possiblity of rain tires at Daytona and Talladega however. I figured that since the needed amount of grip at those tracks is minimal, sacrificing traction would make the drivers lift and actually be safer than the status quo.

mustang6172 - 20 April 2008 09:02 PM

Too bad it didn't rain today.

Rain tires on an oval would pose a huge problem. With no low speed turns, tires are under constant stress and would likely overheat.

I have considered the possiblity of rain tires at Daytona and Talladega however. I figured that since the needed amount of grip at those tracks is minimal, sacrificing traction would make the drivers lift and actually be safer than the status quo.

It would be interesting to see if they ever tested them at those 2 tracks. Regardless, I think you might have your work cut out for you in convincing the drivers that it would be doable.

they used wiper's and rain tire's in japan back in the 90's . but almost everyone cried about race'n in the rain i think it would be good if they did use rain tire's a the glen or infineon ..

I've found a few articles on this. It seems drivers had mostly positive opinions of rain tires in the 90's.

http://members.tripod.com/n94/id113.htm

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=12792&FS=NASCAR-CUP

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1995/vp950813/08130768.htm

killerertz - 28 April 2008 03:43 PM

they used wiper's and rain tire's in japan back in the 90's . but almost everyone cried about race'n in the rain i think it would be good if they did use rain tire's a the glen or infineon ..

Oh yeah, forgot about that one. That was a disappointing race all the way around. It was an exibition race so a lot of good teams didn't show up, and then the rain didn't help. NASCAR never went back.

There have been threads on this topic.

Briefly, rain tires won't work on an oval... banking creates waterfalls and rivers of water which leads to hydroplaning and O grip in all the corners of an oval (both of them or all four, if you count that way.
When it comes to a road course, a Cup car is very difficult to setup for the rain because of it's design. The front sway bar can't be disconnected and has to be removed for an optimum rain setup and if it dries out, well .... too bad, you'll lose a lap trying to put it back in....

well the cot is nascar 's brain fart . so i'm sure they can fix the problem if they wanted to . just look at tire gate ..

LFingar - 29 April 2008 07:50 PM

killerertz - 28 April 2008 03:43 PM

they used wiper's and rain tire's in japan back in the 90's . but almost everyone cried about race'n in the rain i think it would be good if they did use rain tire's a the glen or infineon ..

Oh yeah, forgot about that one. That was a disappointing race all the way around. It was an exibition race so a lot of good teams didn't show up, and then the rain didn't help. NASCAR never went back.

Actually they moved the race to the oval of twin ring motegi. So they did go back they just ran it somewhere else. I wish toyota would ask them to do that again and go to Fuji. Never happen though.