i really think they should try different types of tire manufactures like hoosier,michelin,and so forth and get rid of the darn headache of goodyear aka (badyear). nascar is changing,from sponsors of each series,rules noe it is time for a tire change.

"Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it". A change may be good in the long run, but no matter how good a company may be or how good a tire they may be able to produce eventually, they are going to initially have more problems then Goodyear is currently having. They will be starting cold. They will know virtually nothing about about the demands of the car/track/setup combinations that will change every week. Those things take time to learn and engineer solutions for. The learning curve can and almost certainly will be painful for all involved. Hoosier would be my choice, since they already have experience with stock cars on ovals, but even they have no experience with the COT. As far as the other manufacturers, I personally have no desire to see a foreign manufacturer become the tire of NASCAR. The Goodyears are improving. From driver reports the tires for tomorrow's 427 are a considerable improvement over last years. Every team has said time and again that learning the nuances of the COT is taking a lot of time and effort on their part. Why would anyone think that building a tire that meets the demands of the car would be any quicker or easier? Recently JPM remarked that his biggest surprise in coming to NASCAR was how infinitely changable the setups are during a race. He said that in F1 and CART the setups rarely changed much once the cars took to the track. That difference alone makes building a tire for NASCAR much more of a challange. A smaller company like Hoosier may just do a better job in the long run, but it would come with a price, IMO.

Tire wars do nothing good in Motorsports.

Hell More people were killed in NASCAR due to tire failures during the tire wars, then were ever killed due to a failure during the times of no-tirewar.

Fisha695 - 28 February 2009 03:40 PM

Tire wars do nothing good in Motorsports.

Hell More people were killed in NASCAR due to tire failures during the tire wars, then were ever killed due to a failure during the times of no-tirewar.

I believe the OP was advocating a complete change of tire manufacturer, not the addition of manufacturers.

Fisha695 - 28 February 2009 03:40 PM

Tire wars do nothing good in Motorsports.

Hell More people were killed in NASCAR due to tire failures during the tire wars, then were ever killed due to a failure during the times of no-tirewar.

Tire wars don't kill people, the walls kill people.

Some of what went wrong in Tire War One and Tire War Two (herin called TW1 and TW2), and some wasn't. NASCAR could have required tires to maintain a given amount of speed over a given number of laps, but didn't. NASCAR could have used testing as a means of controling tire temps, but didn't. NASCAR could have forced teams to commit to a single brand for a whole season, but didn't. It's easy to legislate when no one questions your authority (ask any dictator).

There's also an issue of timing. TW1 happened 20 years ago when not all races were televised live. TW2 was 15 years ago while the sport was rapidly growing but not in the scale of the Big 4. Goodyear and Hooser built soft tires because that was the easiest way to get lots of grip for little money. Also consider that while Goodyear is a multi-national conglomerate, Hoosier is still a mom and pop company that only makes tires for racing. Hoosier's desired market is so small, the cost of competing in NASCAR today can't be justified.

Let's compare this to the tire war that recently ended in Formula 1. Here Bridgestone and Michelin spent millions of dollars to develope tires that could give as much grip as soft tires and last as long as hard tires. No one would have spent this kind of money on NASCAR in the late 80's and early 90's. Today, it's possible to make it work.

Goodyear is beginning too understand what kind of tire the COT needs and the teams are getting the hand of the car too. I will admit Goodyear is walking a fine line. When Goodyears contract is up, i hope NASCAR lets other tire manufactors test tires.
Goodyear also needs too test tires more than they already do now.

Remember though, Goodyear wanted to develop a tire for the COT when they were developing it, but NASCAR said no. Goodyear builds tires on what the drivers say, and what NASCAR tells them they want the tires to do.

Yes Goodyear is taking the fall, but when it boils down to it, it is NASCAR's fault not Goodyears.

And now NASCAR has given Goodyear the ok to build a bigger tire, but all that means in the long run is teams will new to put new front and rear clips on the COTs and throw everything they learned out the window.

Once again that is NASCARs fault not Goodyears.

Fisha695 - 01 March 2009 12:30 AM

Remember though, Goodyear wanted to develop a tire for the COT when they were developing it, but NASCAR said no. Goodyear builds tires on what the drivers say, and what NASCAR tells them they want the tires to do.

Yes Goodyear is taking the fall, but when it boils down to it, it is NASCAR's fault not Goodyears.

And now NASCAR has given Goodyear the ok to build a bigger tire, but all that means in the long run is teams will new to put new front and rear clips on the COTs and throw everything they learned out the window.

Once again that is NASCARs fault not Goodyears.

Assuming all that is true, I disagree with your final thought.

Much like the Ford/Firestone tire fiasco, ultimately, if you are the 'tire experts'. you have to draw a line in the sand and stand your ground.

It's not enough to say "Nascar made us do it", or "Ford demanded the tire we built".

Be the 'tire experts' or don't, you can't have it both ways.

As the tire supplier they have a contract with NASCAR to supply the tires that NASCAR wants, not to supply the tires that they feel are the best for any given style of car or track.

Fisha695 - 01 March 2009 01:28 PM

As the tire supplier they have a contract with NASCAR to supply the tires that NASCAR wants, not to supply the tires that they feel are the best for any given style of car or track.

Is there a source for the contract terms, or are you just expressing an opinion?

Cat-Man-Do - 01 March 2009 04:44 PM

Fisha695 - 01 March 2009 01:28 PM

As the tire supplier they have a contract with NASCAR to supply the tires that NASCAR wants, not to supply the tires that they feel are the best for any given style of car or track.

Is there a source for the contract terms, or are you just expressing an opinion?

There are lots of sources for the contract terms, but only certain people are allowed to see them.

What I said is what one of the Goodyear officials told me at Pocono last year. I asked them why don't they bring a different compound tire for some of these races, and his exact words were "We do testing with NASCAR, Drivers, and Tracks to get feedback, but at the end of the day we bring what NASCAR wants us to bring, which isn't always what we want to bring."