Nice to finally see a full page of banter that does not include the V-twin crusade. Just to distill what I have read through the past 20+ pagees and get to the heart of the matter:
1) Any tire, DOT or not that says "race" is approved.
2) Any tire that is supplied with documentation from a manufacturer that states it is maufactured for racing is acceptable.
3) No manufacturer is going to come forward and state that they approve a tire at 270 mph. PERIOD, way to much liability. (I manufacture heating appliances, I know what they are capable of and what is feasable, and what we officially state is safe with them.) To continue this trivial wining about the matter is pointless and counter productive.
4) RACE tires are engineered and manufactured to a considerably higher standard than street tires. Instead of thousands and thousands of tires, they are made in batches of 20-100 with much better quality control. Let's face it,AMA, NASCAR, WSB, F1 racing is advertising, nothing more. If manufacturers have catastrophic problems on the track, they bleed money. (Anyone remember the US F1 rece with 4 cars a few years back. the tire maufacturer refunded everyones tickets to save face.) So, race tires are more consistent, and more reliable. I am sure that there are many people expound about THEIR tire, well, I flipped a coin 35 times and got heads every time. Do you want to put your life on that next flip? Statistically, race tires are safer.
5) Cost - as i was told when I bought my first helmet - "If you got a ten dollar head, get a ten dollar helmet.