Old-style rubber

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In: NASCAR Truck Series News

The July 24 Camping World Truck Series race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, will mark the return of something that hasn’t appeared in any of NASCAR’s top touring series since the 1990s–the bias ply tire.

Because the race, billed as the “Inaugural Mudsummer Classic,” is the first on dirt since 1970 for one of NASCAR’s top three series, Goodyear had to provide a unique tire for the event. According to Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of race tire sales, the tire maker used a dirt modified tire it already produces as the basis for its Eldora tire.

Bias ply tires are more compliant and better suited to dirt because they are better able to envelope the irregularities of a dirt surface. Unlike the slicks used on pavement, the Eldora tire also features a tread pattern.

For the Truck Series, Goodyear widened the tire from 10 to 11 inches to provide a larger contact patch with the racing surface and more grip. Tony Stewart, Austin Dillon and brother Ty Dillon tested a 10-inch tire last October at Eldora.

“Basically, we started with a tire we had in the line, a dirt modified tire, because it was about the right size for the trucks,” Stucker said. “So that was the starting point. That’s what we tested last October when we first went there with the Dillons and Tony. It ran real well. We were very comfortable with the compound, with the performance that we saw.

“The one thing we came out of thinking was that we could probably give these guys more tire, a little more tread width.

After Goodyear produced the 11-inch version, Ty Dillon did a confirmation test of the tire at 311 Speedway in Pine Hall, N.C.

Goodyear and NASCAR began a phase-out of bias ply tires from the top touring divisions in 1989, in favor of radials. Though bias ply tires continued in use on short tracks for several years, the transition was complete by the mid-1990s.

NASCAR Wire Service
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