When The Race Isn't The Only Battle On The Track
02/14/2014
PattyKay Lilley
I bid
you welcome gentle readers. After making myself perhaps a bit more infamous
than famous during my radio appearance last evening with Robyn Vandenberg aka
"That Sports Chick" on her Bump and Run show, in which "Mama
PKL" couldn't resist giving a seat in the corner to "King"
Richard Petty for his more than slightly Chauvinistic condemnation of the
racing abilities of Danica Patrick, I looked around for anything but that as
the topic of Friday's column... and found one in the column just released.
* Podcast of "Bump and
Run" can be found here.
This one
is for all the readers that ask for more and more articles historical in nature,
and it came to mind upon refreshing my last article, a tribute to Neil Bonnett. In
that article, you may recall that reference was made to both Neil and Rodney
Orr having driven cars equipped with Hoosier tires on the days they
respectively bade this world adieu.
Though
no connection was ever made between those tires and the deaths at Daytona in
1994, the fact remains, they came during what might be called round 2 of the
tire war between Hoosier and Goodyear for supremacy in NASCAR's elite series. For
those of you who are not familiar with a tire war, it refers to the
presence of two or more tire manufacturers supplying tires to the combatants of
the same racing series.
At first
blush, one would think that in our capitalistic society, this would be a good
thing. Indeed, if we were talking only of pricing it probably would be, but in
racing, there is far more at stake than the mere cost of a set of tires. For
those of you who have never seen the outcome of this particular type of
competition, or those who have mercifully forgotten, let me take you back for a
moment and describe just what a tire war might accomplish.
In the
very beginning of NASCAR stock car racing, the only “racing” tire available was
from Firestone Tire & Rubber Co., which had been the supplier of tires for
Indianapolis Motor Speedway for years.
However, in the beginning, Firestone didn’t show much interest in the
new racing series called NASCAR, so the early drivers were left to run pretty
much on street tires, which were ill-suited to the high speeds. It didn’t take
very long for someone to discover that these tires were not sufficient or
safe on the large, weighty stock cars. Johnny Mantz, who had cut his teeth
at the Brickyard, knew instinctively what it would take, and with nothing else
available, went out and purchased several sets of truck tires for his 1950
Plymouth. Mantz was the slowest qualifier in the field of 75 at Darlington in
1950, but due to the hardness of his tires, he finished nine laps ahead of the
field, as competitors suffered blowout after blowout in the first 500-mile race
ever run by stock cars. (Have been questioned a time or two concerning those
tires and how, when it was "Stock parts only" that Mantz got away
with using truck tires. It helped immensely that the car he was driving that
day was partially owned by Bill France Sr.)
By 1955,
Firestone came out with a “Super Sports” tire that was not unlike a truck tire,
and Herb Thomas won the Southern 500 that year without a tire change. Goodyear
entered the picture briefly in 1957 when Jack Smith won a 100-mile race at
Concord, N.C., but it was two years later before Goodyear scored a win on a
Superspeedway, with Jim Reed capturing the Southern 500.
During
the 1960’s the two manufacturers fought it out head to head, with Goodyear
coming out the eventual winner. During those same years though, there were
numerous serious accidents and many deaths caused by tire failures, as harder
and safer tires gave way to softer and faster tires... all in the name of
speed. In the late 60’s, Firestone finally withdrew their tires from stock car
competition, and the long marriage between NASCAR and Goodyear began.
Goodyear claims that their racing program has never turned a profit;
it serves only as a marketing and research tool to make finer tires
for your car and mine.
In the
1970’s there was one other minor incursion into the sport by McCreary Tires.
Other than securing pole positions for J.D. McDuffie in 1978 and Harry Gant in
1979, they were unspectacular, and withdrew quickly when NASCAR issued a new
ruling, that tire manufacturers wishing to supply tires for their sanctioned
races must supply a quantity large enough for the entire field.
Things
ran very smoothly for both NASCAR and Goodyear after that, with Goodyear
supplying tires that were harder and safer. The tire wars of the early years,
along with the injuries and deaths attributed to them were all but forgotten.
However, like all good things, that came to an abrupt end in 1988, when Bob
Newton, the owner of a small tire-manufacturing firm known as “Hoosier Tire and
Rubber” decided to bring his tires into Winston Cup racing. Newton was not new
to racing, since he already supplied tires for Late Models, Sprint cars and
Sportsman events, including NASCAR’s own Sportsman division. It seemed like the
quintessential David and Goliath battle, and few, if any, folks were impressed
by the addition of the upstart company.
“Racing
is our game,” said Newton, “and we play seven days a week. We’ve been working
hard and testing different avenues than the big guy (Goodyear). Goodyear makes
a good tire. They sit on the pole weekly, but ours is a come-on tire. It’s not
a quick qualifier.” In the opening race of 1988 in Daytona, ten teams started
on Hoosier tires. They didn’t win (Bobby Allison did, on Goodyears), but they
were competitive. At the second race, in Richmond, Neil Bonnett, driving the Rahmoc Pontiac, recovered from being two laps down to post
the first race win for Hoosier tires. Two weeks later, Bonnett scored a second
win for Hoosier at the mile track in Rockingham. That was the wake-up call for
Goodyear. They had been bested at their own game. Goodyear’s Public Relations
Manager, Bill King, said, “Hoosier is a good racing tire. Bob Newton did his
homework and he knows what he is doing. “
King
continued, “When there is no competition, you don’t design a tire at the edge
of the performance envelope. You design a tire to be safe and reliable. There
is no question about a tire war on the Winston Cup circuit, but we haven’t even
got our guns out yet. We’re still loading, but you’ll know when we start
shooting.” That, gentle readers, was the beginning of what would get ugly
before it got better. At Atlanta, all but two cars opted for Goodyears, mainly
because Hoosier had never had a tire on that particular track. At Darlington, the
following week, Lake Speed scored his one and only victory on the Winston Cup
circuit, on Hoosier tires. In the following weeks, Goodyear designed a tire
that would run as fast as the Hoosiers, and presented it at The Winston in
Charlotte. After a hard crash by Ricky Rudd, resulting in a knee injury,
Goodyear withdrew their new tires from the 600 the following week. During that
600, Rick Wilson, Harry Gant and Neil Bonnett were all transported to hospitals
with varying injuries and Buddy Baker suffered a blood clot on his brain in a
multi-car wreck, although that wasn’t caught for some three months. When it was
discovered, Baker’s driving career ended. All injuries were the result of tire
failures.
There
were calls from many drivers and crew chiefs for NASCAR to step in and end the
tire war, but NASCAR said that couldn’t be done, since it would violate the
nation’s anti-trust laws. Throughout 1988, the war continued, with drivers
switching from one tire to the other and back again, trying to second-guess
which one might get them to the end of a race without serious injury. Both
tires were faster than ever before, but neither was what might be described as
“safe” or “reliable.” By the end of the year, “David” had won nine races of the
twenty-nine on the schedule. “Goliath” had not been slain, but he most
certainly knew he’d been in a battle.
Bob
Newton said, “They thought from the very start that we wouldn’t last but a few
races, but we were prepared for it. I spent my whole life in the business and I
know what it’s all about. When I started, I was hopeful we could get 20 percent
of the market. As it turned out we won nine races.”
The
price paid for that disastrous season was a steep one. By the end of that year,
J.D McDuffie, Bobby Wawak, Bill Elliott, Ricky Rudd,
Harry Gant, Rick Wilson, Neil Bonnett, Bobby Allison, Jocko Maggiacomo,
Kyle Petty and Rusty Wallace had all logged time in the hospital. (After
blowing a tire on the very first lap at Pocono, Bobby Allison would come near
death, suffering massive head injuries, and never race again) Sports writers
and fans alike had taken to referring to these drivers as “the walking
wounded.” Crutches and casts seemed as much at home in the garage area as did
tires and wrenches.
The
following year, 1989, saw Goodyear attempt to come out swinging at the bell,
with the introduction at Daytona of their new radial-ply tire. They had tested
the tire for two months and thousands of miles, and deemed it safe and ready
for the track. However, the first practice at Daytona told quite a different
story, when both Bill Elliott and Dale Earnhardt hit the wall due to tire
failures. Elliott sustained a double fracture of his wrist in his incident. At
that point, Goodyear did the only honorable thing. They packed up their tires
and withdrew from the Daytona 500.
Undaunted,
the manufacturing giant went back to the drawing board and worked hard on their
new radial. Goodyear’s new and improved radial tire debuted at North Wilkesboro
that spring. While Hoosier tires were much faster in qualifying, those new
Goodyears maintained their speed throughout the race, while the Hoosier
bias-plies faded as bias-plies had always done. Dale Earnhardt won the
race on Goodyear radial tires. Ironically, he would say in later years that he
never really became accustomed to the radials, and preferred the bias-plies,
but the radials were in the sport... and on our highways... to stay.
In The
Winston 500 at Talladega, Hoosier brought a new tire, touted by Bob Newton as
the best tire he had ever produced, but only two drivers opted to use it that
day. Had it not been for a late race caution, Morgan Shepherd, with Hoosiers on
his Rahmoc Pontiac, might have won the race. The
caution erased the lead Shepherd had built up and three cars shod with
Goodyears left him at the starting line to finish 1-2-3. They were Davey
Allison, Terry Labonte and Mark Martin.
The next
day, Newton announced that he was withdrawing Hoosier tires from Winston Cup
competition. He did this in an extremely warm and friendly letter to NASCAR,
which is too long to include in this space. However, he did acknowledge quietly
that he might return someday. “I know how to play the game now. We’ve done all
we can do as a little company. I’ve climbed Mount Everest and stuck the flag
pole in the ground, but I didn’t want to live there,”
For
their part, the drivers and owners were more than happy to see the war end, and
to place their confidence in Goodyear to supply tires that would not fail at
high speeds.
Newton
did indeed make one more incursion into Winston Cup, in 1994. Hoosier tires won
three races that year along with the all-star race, The Winston. In each case,
the driver was Geoff Bodine. At the end of the year, Newton once more withdrew
his tires, citing the excessive cost to his small company of supplying enough
tires to service the entire field at each race. You could almost hear the
collective sigh of relief from the garage area. Of course, there were those two
racers that never came home from Daytona...
Probably the happiest person to see
Hoosier leave Cup racing was Leo Mehl, the director
of worldwide racing for Goodyear. "We're relieved it's over because speeds
had escalated to the point that everyone was concerned. With us, safety was
always the No. 1 goal. We did the right thing and always built new tires for
every track.'' After
seeing what happens when safety is sacrificed for speed, it might not suit the
anti-trust laws to have only one tire supplier in the sport, but you can bet
the farm that it suits the drivers and the car owners. About a decade or so
ago, it appeared that the mighty Michelin Tire Co. might make a run at NASCAR,
and memories were immediately evoked of the last time we'd fought a war with
tires as the objective. Mark Martin’s cryptic comment, when asked what he
thought about the possibility of another tire war was, “They’re going to kill
somebody.” Unfortunately, he may have hit the nail right on its proverbial
head. Each time there has been serious competition between tire manufacturers
in the Cup Series, the results were injuries and deaths. This old fan
hopes and prays that we never have to see again the carnage produced
by a tire war. Just as Smokey used to say, "They're all my
drivers" and I want them all alive and whole. Be well
gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!
~
PattyKay
[email protected]