LSR tires

[desotoman]

I can't imagine a gang of 40 or so "rag-tag" salt racers wanting to go 400+ having any creedence with a tire manufacturer.

Dave, with all due respect, some of these people you call "rag-tag" are very influental, and not all, but a lot are very sucessful buisness people.

Regards,
Tom Gerardi

[JackD]

As stated by many of the last Boards of Directors. (25 years of listening)The SCTA is NOT in the tire business. With that said, I have no idea what the current Board would do and I won't be there to comment or listen. . . .Good Luck

The tires I remember on his car were beyond the age specified for use by the builder and not used for the intended purpose. SCTA would be the only Sanction Body that would allow them for anything beyond a display.
There you have it.

[JackD]

I can't imagine a gang of 40 or so "rag-tag" salt racers wanting to go 400+ having any credence with a tire manufacturer.

Dave, with all due respect, some of these people you call "rag-tag" are very influential, and not all, but a lot are very successful business people.

Regards,
Tom Gerardi

Most of the "Rag Tag" reputation comes from the lack of leadership in the sport in general.

[Bob Drury]

Tom, Even if you have 50 fast car owners, I don't think you will get a audience with a tire company.   I believe if you have the SCTA in a leadership role, you might at least get in the door.  The other problem with private financing, is what happens when two or more of the "deep pockets" get in a pissing match?  Who owns what?  One more thing to add, when Cooper Tire decided to cut up the last M/T tires, I was in contact with Carol Cianciola (spl?) almost daily.  She told me what killed the deal was when McCreary Tire, who built the last tires, wouldn't pick up the liability after Cooper first declined.  No one wants a hot potato.  Also, don't forget, we need tires for the bikers also, and who is to say if Goodyear will stay with us in the future.  We need to at least explore all the options AS A GROUP, for the good of all..

[Dave Cox]

Hi Tom. Being one of them, I like the rag-tag moniker, no offense meant. I like the fact that we're just a bunch of guys wanting to go fast and we're not worried about the (non-existant) payoff.

Count me in if there's a bunch going for tires....

Dave

[JackD]

I don't think Goodrear is with us now.
 I think the batch of 6 ply tires were built for a 1989 Olds project and Jim Feuling on the same molds as the drag tires with fewer plys.

[1212FBGS]

Who's got tires to run 400? no one. If they do, they will be at speed week this year. as soon as those tires are used up there will be no more 400+ passes. gentlemen these are the last few years for fast lsr passes. The hay day of fast lsr passes is almost over. So suck it up and get real... there is no money in our sport. We don't get spectators to influence so they can buy a product, so big money wont and hasn't come. 50 years ago they had 100 entries and a hand full of spectators. Today we have a 100 entries and a hand full of spectators. the only thing that has grown in the last 50 years in our sport is the size of the SCTA's bank account. nobody has and will put big money into our sport including convincing a tire manufacturer to risk there company even to sell us tires. as jack said there were tires out there, they didn't need to be made, they were already made, the tire guys thought they were to much of a liability and wouldn't sell them. There are plenty of people working on tires. They are all beating the same dead horse. Yes the tire issue is brought up at every board meeting. The SCTA is aware of the tire issue. Believe me the money is there for the tires, from the club or pooled racer dough, the money is not the issue. The issue is convincing a tire maker to do it. If someone can con a tire guy into it, they will go straight to the lsr hall of fame!
out
kr

[Bob Drury]

It sure would be nice to hear Mike Cook's take on all of this.  I know that Mike has put a lot of enegy into this subject, and I think all of us would welcome any input from him, or anyone else, including Earl, Ken, Marlo,etc.  This is one subject where we need to all stick together.

[JackD]

Anybody wanting to run over 200 with anything is affected by the non availability of suitable tires.
Part of the problem might be the "I have mine, too bad about your's" type of deal.
We saw evidence of that here today.
It might be time for the "Under 200mph Club" for the slower bunch.
RIP SCTA

[Dave Cox]

There was a blurb about tires in the new Goodguys magazine (Landspeed Louises' column), to paraphrase:

"Alaskan Bush Tires Bill Duncan reported that he has the mold for the 30" tire (9x30 I presume), financial constraints have mired progress. With sales projected at 300-400 per year (if that - my comment, not theirs) it make it hard to justify the equipment investment. Duncan figures several hundred thousand dollars for the base equipment and an additional $80k for each other size. An enormous burden for a family run company."

This is where an organization like SCTA could step in and help for the benefit of all racers.

Dave

[JackD]

Both the costs and demand were probably doubled for the story in reality.
The details of the tire with the extra plys and limited production run almost prohibit automation.
Older , hand methods that increase the per unit costs are an additional burden.
One has to wonder how much they spent before arriving at that conclusion or did somebody back off a promise.

[desotoman]

Jack D wrote:

Part of the problem might be the "I have mine, too bad about your's" type of deal.
We saw evidence of that here today.

Jack, I am curious were was that said? If you are referring to my post, you misinterpreted it. I need the 30" tall M/T's just like other people. I was on the list to purchase 4 tires for my Modified Roadster. This concerns me also, I am just not in a panic mode. Everything goes full circle and this problem will be resolved.

Refresh my mind on all the tires that Ermie Imersio bought at one time. I never knew the details but at one time didn't Ermie have about 100 tires for his turbine car?

Regards,
Tom Gerardi

[JackD]

I made reference to Tone and his give up. The quote was mine for illustration.
Ermie bought the 18 inch at the same time BNI bought the 15 inch from the same builder. Ermie paid for his with his money and sold them to whoever wanted them . BNI borrowed the money (about $25k) and sold them also. I don't remember the number of tires but 200 sounds about right.
The old timers that were use to the Indy tires were afraid of them because they were not as many ply as they were accustomed to. The strength was the same with stronger materials. They were said to be out of round but that was just lack of understanding of how to mount and prep them for use.

[Bob Drury]

Tom, I think it is time to get in the panic mode.  MacDonald and Pitts have no spare 30's left.  Marlo is building a car for the same size with no or few backups.  Lots of cars cannot run smaller size tires due to chassis design.  Not everyone can afford modern quickchanges.  Lets hope we don't get to the point where guys cannot race because of no tires, or as I stated earlier, try to make "one last pass" on a set of used up tires.

[Bob Drury]

On the Arctic Tundra Tire, one must wonder what enticed Duncan to start the project in the first place.  He first invested a reported 17,000 for the chunk of aluminum for the 30" outer mold, then had to have it machined.  Wether or not liability issues or economics called the project to a halt I don't know, but it seems strange that the entire project wasn't researched further before the commitment was made.  I feel bad for Mr. Duncan as well as the LSR community.  Hopefully, someone else can purchase the mold and continue forward.