Tires,
Tires, Tires.
That seems to be the hottest topic in sprint car racing as the 2009 season
quickly comes to an end.
With the World of Outlaws and the Knoxville Raceway already announcing they
have commitments beginning in 2010 with Goodyear Tires, the burning question
for east coast sprint car fans is which direction will Williams Grove and
Lincoln Speedway’s go in the tire war.
Port Royal and Selinsgrove Speedway’s have already announced commitments to
Hoosier Tire Mid Atlantic for 2010 but both the Grove and Lincoln have not
made any commitments yet and are weighing their options on which direction
to go.
And no matter what decision either track makes, it will be popular with
some and unpopular with others. It’s a deal that there is no way everyone
can be made happy with the outcome.
“We are evaluating the tire test (held on October 4) and Kathy (Hughes) is
waiting until after the banquet to make any decisions about it,” said
Williams Grove Speedway general manager Justin Loh. “With the Outlaws and
All Stars going with Goodyear, about 20 percent of my races are with those
series each season so will our guys be at a disadvantage if we don’t follow
suit? I’ve talked to drivers and owners about it and I can only offer my
input to Kathy and she will make the decision of what’s best for Williams
Grove Speedway.”
Lincoln Speedway co-owner Don Leiby said “We haven’t even seen a proposal
from Hoosier yet and we were supposed to get it a few weeks ago. We aren’t
rushing into any decision until we’ve covered all bases with tires and we
will make a decision after our banquet.”
Leiby also stated that American Racer was interested in submitting
proposals but his track has yet to see anything from that tire company as
well.
Gene Franckowiak, owner of the JMO Motorsports No. 75 driven by Dave Ely,
Doug Dodson, owner/driver of his No. 43 and Greg Hodnett, full-time driver
for the J & S Fabrication Racing Team helped take a look at what this all
means for local racing.
“From our team as a whole, Hoosier has done a lot for a lot of people in
racing even though they do this to make money for themselves as well,”
Hodnett said. “They have also contributed to the points at I’d say about
every track in the area and they have close to a quarter million dollars in
factory support to our local teams. Port Royal feels a lot of loyalty to
Hoosier because they get support financially and it’s helped them through
some pretty rough times. I haven’t seen anything that Goodyear has any plans
to do what Hoosier has done for teams and tracks and I don’t know how many
of our teams can make up that difference in what Hoosier has done.”
Franckowiak, a long-time car owner with the United Racing Company and most
recently in local 410 sprint ca racing, offers a different opinion.
“First and foremost, we have no tire rule,” he stated. “Tire rules are
supposed to save the car owners money. When we ran URC and they had a tire
rule, the right rear tire cost $160 and the left rear cost $145 and everyone
paid the same for tires and no one got discounts or free tires. And as a
bonus, URC offers a $40,000 plus point fund every season.
So the point fund argument isn’t relevant here in Central PA as a reason for
high tire costs. To me, URC has a tire rule, so that being said, I don’t
think the 410’s really have a tire rule. I think that 410’s have a program
where the tire company pays the track money to be exclusive and then
discounts tires to certain teams. This works great for the track and the
teams that really have a “tire deal” but the rest of us are left paying full
price. So where is our deal?”
Dodson who owns and funds his own race team with help of a few sponsors
doesn’t really care what brand of tire he would be told to run but knows
that if tracks go opposite directions on tires, it will force him to make a
choice. And he feels many other teams would be left to make a decision on
how much and which track they could compete at each week.
“Because I am employed at Hyper Racing, they sell Hoosier and I’ve been
able to work a slight discount because of that,” he said. “But our deal is
we buy a bulk amount of left rears at a discounted price and then buy our
right rears pretty much on a race by race basis and that saved us a little
money by dishing out some extra money initially. If Williams Grove and
Lincoln went opposite ways, we definitely would have to take a look at our
program and probably make a decision on what track we would run regular.
There is no way we could put out a lot of money at first for two different
types of tires. It seems like everyone’s situation is different and it seems
like everyone has a different opinion about it all too.”
Hodnett also understands that his team will need to run Goodyears at Outlaw
shows at Williams Grove, in Florida, Knoxville and at any other sanctioned
race they compete at in 2010.
“If different tracks go with different tire scenarios, it’s going to be a
lot more work and effort to switch tires and rims from night to night or
week to week,’ he added. “But probably at least 20 percent or so of our
races are going to be with Goodyear but those 20 percent are probably are
over half of our income as far as race winnings. So if we don’t do well in
those races, we’re gonna have trouble making that up. The unfortunate part
is no one really knows if we would be at a major disadvantage of if our
tracks stay with Hoosiers and we have to run Goodyears with the Outlaws. I
just think the long term ramifications may be hard to see over the short
term gains maybe for a promoter or a sanctioning body. It’s a tough deal.
It’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t for everybody involved.”
“Who’s name is on the side of the tire is meaningless to our team,”
Franckowiak added. “What is meaningful is the cost and I have not heard one
word from anyone about reducing the cost to the car owners. We would
certainly like to race 410’s again in 2010 but that will depend on tire
costs. We may be forced to return to URC, where their management group seems
to take the tire cost situation seriously and they have a very good business
model for their racers. If you can buy and American Racer (the URC track
tire) for $160 and $14, we should all be on American Racers because that is
what is good for the racer and shouldn’t track management be looking out for
our best interests?”
It’s no secret that tracks get kickbacks from having an exclusive tire and
forcing teams to run that specific tire. Many argue that racing was better
without a tire rule and it’s probably a good bet that it was. But Central PA
has been under tire rules for several seasons now and it probably won’t
change anytime soon. Does it really matter what brand of tire is being used?
Do tracks really get that much of a kickback from a specific tire brand to
make or break them for a season or could they possibly open up the rules and
allow teams to run whatever and as many tires as they want per night. Then
no one could complain about brands and their tire costs each season. It
would be their decision.
We could talk to 100 different drivers/owners and we’d get 100 different
answers. Some drivers/teams are only concerned about their own agenda and
not the overall affect on racing itself so we can only hope that whatever
decision local tracks take, it makes racing better than it currently is and
it helps save car owners money. If there aren’t car owners bringing their
cars to the track each and every week, tracks will be a big pile of trouble
and right now isn’t the time to be adding extra expenses to our car owners
in Central PA.
PIT STOPS
It will be Champions Night Friday at Williams Grove Speedway where the 2009
track champions will be determined as the 410 Sprints and 358 Sprints are in
action. Todd Shaffer leads Greg Hodnett and Mark Smith by 90 points with
Brian Montieth 140 points out for the driver championship. On the car owner
side, Jim and Sandy Kline lead Gary and Patty Beam by 40 points and Brian
Scandle by 130 for the car owner championship. The driver and car owner
champions will split the $20,000 first place prize. Cory Haas holds a 185
point lead over Scott Geesey for the 358 Sprint car title…
The Grove will be back in action Saturday with the final Saturday Night
Series of the season with the final points races for the Super Sportsman,
358 late models, street stocks and 4-cylinders. Carmen Perigo, Jr. and the
Walt Bigler team are the current Sportsman tour points leaders by a 220
point advantage over Frankie Herr. Gene Knaub leads Bobby Beard by 60 points
in the 358 late models while Kory Sites has clinched the street stock title.
Brian Wentzel leads Kevin Thomas by 50 points and John Stoll, Jr. by 60
points with two point races on the line Saturday night…
Lincoln Speedway will end its 2009 season Saturday with a 410 Sprint and
358 Sprint car doubleheader. The 358 sprints will go in the $1,500 to win
championship with time trials setting the field. The 410 Sprints will draw
for starting spots all night. Should Saturday night be rained out, Lincoln
will use Sunday night at 6pm as the raindate. Should Sunday be rained out,
the season is over…
Grandview Speedway ends its season Saturday with the Thunder on the Hill
Halloween Party featuring the URC Sprints, NASCAR Modifieds, ARDC Midgets,
Legends and the Sportsman stock cars each competing in 25 lap features. ..
Racin’ Jason Covert won Sunday night’s $10,000 Rumble by the Lake at
Hesston Speedway over Keith Jackson, Josh Richards, Jack Pencil and Nick
Dickson. The win was the ninth of the season for Covert and his second
straight $10,000 win…
The 50th anniversary of the Knoxville Nationals next August will have title
sponsorship from Goodyear Tires. The race will officially be called the
Goodyear Knoxville Nationals presented by Lucas Oil. A $1,000,000 purse will
be up for grabs for the historic event making it the richest sprint car
event in the history of sprint car racing…
