DeathMachines Researches the Great Tire Debate

DeathMachines.net recently interviewed some of the heavy-hitters in the Outlaw Class about tires. Read below to see what, according to these racers, is the future in terms of tires!

THE TIRE DEBATE
Saturday November 7, 2009. Maryland International Raceway, Mechanicsville, MD. The Race? The 15th Annual World Cup Finals. The players? Some of the world’s fastest “street” cars. With people from as far away as Florida to the south and Canada to the north, the stage was set to be one of the baddest races of all time.

The underlying race within a race is within the FWD realm. Some of the scene’s heaviest hitters have shown up and are looking to make an even bigger name for themselves. We’ve seen 8 second passes and some people are just jaded to them now. People like Chris Miller from NRG Tech have made 8 second passes look easy. Felix Medina has shown up and he’s already in the exclusive 8 Second Club as well. Brian Ballard isn’t a stranger to that class either, and others are well within spitting distance.
All of these cars are prepared similar and yet vastly different at the same time. Tires over the years have been a major sticking point. Not that many years ago everyone was on M&H 24.5″ tires, and no one thought there was a need to use anything else. Some people started using Mickey Thompson 26’s and not much changed. Then Tony Palo came along last year on a 26″ tire and made the first 8 second pass the class has ever seen, and what followed next was nothing short of expected. Everyone and their dog suddenly “needed” the 26’s. It was said in places like Honda-Tech.com that if you wanted to join the 8 second club, you’d have to run the 26″ tire, end of discussion…or was it???

Felix Medina shows up to the race on 24.5″ tires and everyone thinks that he’s just here for fun…nobody expected what would happen next. 8.838 @ 172.01 MPH! Those numbers on their own are impressive, but even more so when you consider that he did it on the small 24.5″ tire. This was something that almost everyone considered to be impossible.
That leaves people like me, as an educated observer, wondering if the carnage that 26″ tires cause is even worth it. Transmission cases, differentials, gears, axles and many other parts are being destroyed at a rate that out performs some small countries GDP’s.

So what has Felix done? Nothing short of turning the SFWD class on its proverbial ear. Kudos to you Felix, you deserve to be at the top of the heap!!

But now the question is: Where do we go from here? What did Felix and his team do that nobody else has done? Are the 26″ tires necessary? It certainly doesn’t appear so.

Luckily for us I’ve had the opportunity to meet a lot of people in the industry in my 15 years in it. So I approached some of the biggest names in SFWD, as well as other people who are considered experts on the class and Sport Compact Drag Racing in general. I asked for their take on where things have come from and where they want to see things go from here. 24.5″ vs 26″? What about the offering that M&H brings to the party, otherwise known as the 25.3″ tire. Can people still go blisteringly fast on the 24.5″ like Felix? Was it a fluke or has Felix just figured out something that nobody else has?

So we asked our panel of experts to see what their take is on the whole 24.5″ vs 26″ tire issue just to try and get their perspective and see if they were on the same page. Strangley enough after asking as many folks as we did, we got similar responses. Let’s check it out and for what it’s worth, we asked our respondents to give us quick and dirty answers so that this article didn’t end up as a short novel.

First up is Chris Miller of NRG Tech (nrgtechracing.blogspot.com)
What tire do you run now?
I run a 26×10 MT tire. I have built the whole car around the tire. Body, gearing, everything is molded around the tire.

Can the 24.5″ tire gain popularity with what Felix did?
The 24.5″ tire is already as popular as it can get. If the question is geared towards the outlaw class then NO. The only reason people run that tire in outlaw is because they can’t run the big tire. Their gearing, the body lines, chassis, everything is setup around the small tire. For them to switch to the big tire would be a lot of work. The same work it would be for a person like myself to switch back to the 24.5″. Actually it would be a lot more work for me to put a 24.5″ tire on my car. I would have to redo the entire front of the car. I would have to change the brakes, redo the intercooler setup, new traction bars. I mean everything. I am not doing that.
In the end it’s all about how the car is setup. If it is setup around a 24.5″ you can’t just throw on a 26″ and vice versa.

What is your team best this year?
The best we’ve run this year was an 8.507 @ 173 MPH until recently we had run anywhere from 169 to 172. No one hit wonder here. In testing at Atco, the car had its best back half and best MPH of the year with a 180 MPH out the back door.

Tony Palo of T1 Race Development
Which tire do you run now?
We run MT 26×10x15 now and don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Do you think the 24.5″ tire will become more popular in 2010 especially with what Felix did?
Not more popular than the past, but I still see them staying popular. I think more and more people will be changing to 26×10’s in 2010. It’s natural progression, everybody wants to go faster.

What was your teams personal best pass in 2009?
9.0 @ 158 MPH. Hope to better that significantly in a couple of weeks. *EDITORS NOTE – Team T1 went 8.83 @ 170 MPH at NSCRA Race in Florida 6/12/09*

Joe Simpson is currently out of the Outlaw loop, but still weighed in with this.
Which tire do you run now?
Currently nothing, hopefully have something to play with on 24.5’s next year.

Do you think the 24.5″ tire will become more popular in 2010?
24.5’s have always been the most popular, 26’s seem to be the ones gaining popularity.

Is the 26″ tire the favorite of the competitors for the 2010 season?
Nobody likes 26’s unless they have a lot of money. The guys running 26’s with success have $5,000+ clutches, $6,000+ gear sets, $5,000+ axles, $2,000 bell housings. Most have spare parts as well.

Next up is the man who stirred the pot himself, Felix Medina.
Which tire do you run now?
I run 24.5″ tires now.

What was your teams personal best pass in 2009?
8.83 @ 172 MPH on 24.5″ tire.

Brian Ballard of CSI Racing has this to say:
Which tire do you run now?
26″ x 10″ MT

Do you think the 24.5″ tire will become more popular in 2010 especially with what Felix has done?
I think it is already the popular tire among SFWD guys, only the outlaw guys that are pushing the envelope are running 26’s. The 24.5’s are much easier on the drive train and the pocketbooks.

James Innes is one of the few who is bucking the trend
Which tire do you run now?
24.5″ and 26″ depending on what we feel and what event we are running.

Do you think the 24.5″ tire will become more popular in 2010 especially with what Felix has done?
The 24.5″ tire will always be popular for guys looking to have fun and keep their drive trains together – the tire is a solid choice for anyone making over 400 HP – that is a huge market.

Any chance of seeing a 24.5″ shootout?
Too many poeple like to throw their opinions in the pot on rules, etc. It would be a huge pissing match to make a 24.5″ tire shootout not worth it, people just need to run what is out there and have fun.

Last but certainly not least, I had to go back and talk to my good friend Arturbo, who has been out of the game for some time now but always willing to lend a hand to whoever needed it, including me.
Which tire do you run now?
The last time anyone ever saw me run was at the NHRA event in Las Vegas in 2007. I can’t say I currently run a tire but I plan on running the 24.5″ slicks when the car comes back. For now, the car will be true to its name, Urban Legend.

Do you think the 24.5″ tire will become more popular in 2010 especially with what Felix did?
When I was running a class, the 24.5″ was the tire of choice because the rules allowed up to a 25″ tire in NHRA’s SFWD. I think it’s always been popular but there have been several who have gone to a 26″ tire, which is allowed in the current outlaw class.

So there you have it. Some of the biggest names in the sport and some people who are no longer competitively racing but still keeping tabs on the sport, and the opinions are as varied as the cars being drive. What do you think???