Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Please educate me as to why we give a rat's ass what people do to tires? How much difference does it make? TIA

Within hearing distance of Tri City Speedway

I'm not a tire guy, and I didn't sleep in a Holiday Inn last night......

There are rules in every organiztion that specify what tires can be used. The reason given, is that a harder tire is specified so that it lasts longer. Hence, less tire wear, less tires used and less cost to the racers. The harder tires also makes the cars a little slower than cars with softer tires. Soaking the tire makes a hard(slower) tire into a softer(faster tire), circumventing the rules (bad doggie!).

It makes a difference. I'll put it this way. I know a guy who races in a certain class, and ran probably 8th to 15th in this class for 5 years. No wins. Year 6....got ahold of some "additive" and started winning right away. And by right away I mean the first night he had doped tires on his car. No I am not lying and no it's not Danny Dietrich. Or anyone else on the planet who races sprint cars. 

Tire bills would go thru the roof. You'd have a tire for qualifing that would probably last one lap. Ask Sammy when he had Goodyear's on, they went away and he fell off. No, opening the tire doping rule up would be a huge step backwards. Let's also not forget most of the crap guys were using back then was not the best thing to be inhaling.  

True if you soften tires, and do it incorrectly. Softer tires arent always, or usually for that matter, faster on most tracks today. From studying the matter in the late model to karting days, most tire treatements now will make a tire last longer.  On todays tracks teams opt more for the harder compounds on most nights, even when having a softer option. Softening a hard tire to cheat will lower the durometer, but again if its rubbered up or abrasive, that tire will still disintegrate by the back end of an amain. Treating tires today, and I would assume the same applies for sprint cars, is designed to fire tires quicker, control the heat cycle, and assist in the compound building and holding its heat evenly across the tire without sealing over or blistering through the duration of a race. Needling will help in this process as well. Still need a good driver, but gains of 2 tenths arent uncommon on treated tires on the back half of a race. Which is weird, because you never really hear much in the way of tire testing in sprint cars like you do the late models. You are correct in the inhaling comment, stuff is nasty in karts.

If you give your tires a bath in lacquer thinner would that be considered doping?  Asking for a friend.

www.harleytrikes.com

I heard from another Friend, Tolulene works good... Lol

Automatic Transmission Fluid. Or spray em down with Simple Green and sit em in the sun. 

Why would anyone do that? 

That is a serious question. 

Horse liniment or Biofreeze

Dot3 brake fluid

www.harleytrikes.com

When you are racing poor and you can't afford new tires every night like the big dogs it allows you to run used tires and hopefully be fairly competitive.

People want to make it about cheating but to a lot of racers it's about survival.

Hoosier has no reason to build a good long lasting tire. There is no competition in the tire market. They want it to be a highly consumable item. They are corporate American in the tire selling business.

I remember years ago I was at Oshkosh and a friend was starting on the front row. I wasn't involved with his race team. He didn't have any new tires so I told him I had some magic juice in the trailer. I sprayed his tires right out in front of everyone and didn't try to hide a thing. He actually did win the feature that night. Don't really believe it had anything to do with the soaked tires because it really didn't have enough time to soak in. But he thought he had something special to help him. Racers and mind games.

www.harleytrikes.com

Someone should ask Jamie ball if it really makes a difference or not. He was caught a few years ago at knoxville 

Simple Green will pull the oils out of the tire. Definately dont want that lol.