Tires, tires, tires. I returned from a busy weekend to find my inbox full of questions and comments regarding the situation at the Brickyard today. First off, let me say that days like today shouldn’t happen. Having destroyed racecars and putting drivers in danger for what seems to be something that could have been avoided is obviously unacceptable. And get ready, because all we are going to hear and read about for the next week is how bad the situation was and who is to blame. All the drivers are going to say the same things, and all the writers are going to write the same regurgitated stories.
What happened this weekend cannot be blamed on one single entity and doing so would be unfair. The new car partnered with a poor tire choice and a diamond ground race track are the causes. The new car has a much higher center of gravity then the old car and the forces put on the tires are much greater. Goodyear is in a tight spot when building tires, as they need to keep the competitors safe, yet provide a tire that allows for good racing. This weekend they all misjudged how the factors were going to affect the tires, and they missed. I think its really that simple.
As unfortunate as today was, dealing with poor conditions and adversity is part of the sport, and a major factor why any competitive sport is popular. If everything was perfect and we knew how it would all play out all the time, it would be boring. Not that I’m condoning or justifying the situation, but it did make for an interesting race, I think. It became a fight for survival and really challenged the teams and the crew chiefs to work the strategy right to put their driver in contention. Racing is a team sport and the teams that succeeded today were those that have good strategists on the box and good crews working on the cars.
An example that comes to mind in terms of poor conditions for a competition was the Pittsburgh/Miami NFL game last season. It did nothing but rain the entire game and the players were up to their ankles in water. It was also a situation where maybe conditions could and should have been better, but nevertheless, they had a game to play. I believe Pittsburgh ended up winning 3-0 in one of the sloppiest games in the history of professional sports. But, even with the messy game and the low score, it was still something to see. It became a battle of wills between the two teams, and the better team prevailed. Today was no different.
The win by the #48 team shows why they have won the last two straight Cup championships. They dealt with serious adversity today, but were able to come out on top.
The other thing I wanted to mention was the pit work. Today’s race really put the focus and some serious pressure on the pit crews to perform. They needed to have good, clean stops to keep their driver in it, especially with so many varying strategies. And when it comes down to do or die situations, sign me up. I’m a competitor, and all I can ask for is my driver hitting pit road and knowing we’ve got to bust one off to win. There is no better feeling then watching that car scream out of the stall after you just had a good stop, and knowing you did all you could for your team.
I know a lot of you have some very strong opinions about the race today, so lets hear them. Now that you’ve had time to digest everything, what do you think? If you were Goodyear, would you rather put a tire out that might wear faster, but provide a better race? Or one that would hurt racing, but wear slower and have drivers complaining about no grip? Do you think NASCAR did the right thing today, knowing they couldn’t do anything about the tires?
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on Jul 27th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
TC,
If Goodyear and NASCAR and IMS all knew after the final practice yesterday that the tires wouldn’t hold up on the track as it was, why didn’t they borrow, say, a dozen of the back-up cars and run them all day and night so they could build up some rubber before the race? If that was the intent — to get some rubber laid down — why did they make the fans watch that process?
I am mindful of what you said before, that these are all professionals and they have carefully studied every situation. I am not saying I’m smarter than Mike Helton and Goodyear. I’m just wondering.
Thanks again, kenny - Alameda, California
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Kenny,
Indy does not have any lights, so it would have been impossible to run cars all night to rubber up the track. Second the drivers have to sleep sometime. NASCAR and Goodyear found them selves in a corner. They had two options. Either run the race as safe as possible or cancel the race. I feel NASCAR and Goodyear could have done a few things different, but overall they did what they needed to do to et this behind them.
I have seen this type of thing happen in the past at smaller local tracks, NASCAR had a similar situation with Lowes a couple of years ago. I have been told by a tire manafacturer that this may have occured due to bad rubber? I don’t know for sure. It happened, it past us, I’m sure NASCAR will live and learn from the experence.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 6:41 am
i think nascar’s clearly to blame. nascar didn’t allow open testing at indy with the cot. goodyear had their tire tests & that obviously wasn’t sufficient. the brickyard is a unique track that testing results can’t be duplicated at other tracks like the any of the “exciting” cookie cutters.
robin pemberton needs to suck it up & admit that nascar dropped the ball on this one instead of shrugging his shoulders & making dopey comments like “what do you want me to do about it?” or “I don’t think an open test here would have done enough for us. Hindsight is 20-20.” when asked what the problem was.
how can he make that statement? nascar did not do everything possible to prevent this from happening & should be held accountable for once.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 6:48 am
kenny,
from what i heard on the radio broadcast, the tires weren’t laying down rubber, they were turning practically to dust. the only way to lay rubber down would be to use a different, softer tire. maybe TC can verify if the tires were turning to dust since he’d be in the best position to see dust during a tire change at a minimal brake track.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 7:11 am
After the first three cautions, when it became clear that the track was NOT going to rubber up, they should have quit calling competition cautions.
At that point they should have left it up to the drivers and crews to make their own calls. If you need tires, stop and get them. If you push it too long and blow a tire, tough luck. At least then we would have seen more real racing and the pit strategy would be on the teams schedule, not an artificial timeframe.
There were several teams who lost significant track position just before competition cautions were called, because their tires were already shot, but the pits were closed in anticipation of the artificial caution.
Just a bad, bad, bad event. I’m really glad I wasn’t attending in person.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 8:04 am
In 1969 we had the same thing happen at pocono. Back then Goodyear was mounting tires as fast as they could, but some of us had to just grab tires from the pits around us. We did not have radio’s back then so what do you do when the driver knows his right front is going to blow and he comes down pit road (back then there was no speed limit) and you have no tires to give him? I can only speak for myself but one stop I took a right front from the K&K team without asking I just grabed it and put it on our car. After the stop I went over and told them I would get them another one. If you remember Harry Hide was crew chief for K&K team at that time and I just knew he was going to kill me right then there. If looks could kill I would not be here today. Harry didn’t say a word just gave me that look. After the race I took a new tire and their wheel to them and only talked to a crew member, I didn’t want to approach Harry. We can only hope it will be another 39 years before we have a tire issue like this again.
One old racer, Roger
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am
The track never did rubber up and I think it should have been clear by Saturday that it wasn’t going to. There were plenty of laps run on the track by then, and tires were still down to the chords. The track was just grinding the rubber into a pretty fine dust.
Kenny: Even if running the backup cars for several hours before the race was feasible, I can’t honestly say I think it would have made a difference. Even after running 400 miles on the track, there was still no difference.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 9:33 am
I can see NASCAR’s point that the tires blowing out was a safety concern but at the same time after 3 competion cautions everyone knew the limit was 10-13 green flag laps. Time for the crew chiefs to earn their pay and win the race while keeping their driver safe.
Can someone get Jack Roush some tissues this year the man can not stop crying about every issure like the NASCAR world is out to get him. First Toyota had too much money now none of his drivers were part of the 3 cars at the tire test. By my math that means 35 other cars beside Roush’s were not invited either.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
The Brickyard had to be the worst race of the year.
Thanks for you post and Insight on the situation.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 11:08 am
It was a terrible event to watch. For the 1st time since Vegas was flat, I actually tuned out. Even my 5 year old was wondering why the tires kept going down and why the increased number of stops.
I feel it was an issue for all parties and they all deserve some blame for not resolving it before the green. Goodyear should have told them this was dangerous and not brought that type of tire. NASCAR should have told Goodyear to figure the stuff out, that is their job as the supplier. NASCAR also should have done a full test because surely they knew the new car would react differently. Finally, IMS should have stepped in and demanded a car/tire package worthy to be run in their facility. It is their responsibility to put on a good show for the fans and no one did their jobs in this respect.
One thing that was cool was seeing how fit and prepared the over the wall guys are these days. The old guys from the 60’s and 70’s would have been killed. Really goes to show how much of an effort is being put down by the team as a whole.
TC, I have a couple of questions if you would be so kind. About how many more sets of tires than normal did you guys change? Has there been any talk regarding a refund or credit to teams for the increased cost? Seems to me the teams should be repaid in some way. If I go down and put a set of Wranglers on the truck and they wear out in 500 miles you damn well know I want something.
BTW. Great site and keep up the good work.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Terrible race, not fun to watch. Blame probably needs to be shared evenly between Goodyear and NASCAR - the problems were obvious on Saturday.
And why did all those Pocono tires get shipped in and then not used? Of course they couldn’t switch tires with 30 laps to go (when the old sets started running out), nobody knew what the tire would do to the car setup. But I thought the initial idea was to make that call two competition yellows in - go to the longer-lasting Pocono tire early on and give everybody enough time to learn about the changes it would cause to car handling. And then NASCAR blew that call as well, and stayed with the original tires. Strike 3!
Luckily, the NHRA was at the local track to provide a good diversion. The Indy race just wasn’t interesting enough to follow.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
As a fan of the sport I honestly would have preferred to have seen the race canceled instead of what we got yesterday. Nascar and Goodyear are equally to blame for the debacle and it seems to me that they chose to ignore the results from their own testing and common sense in the interest of not making Goodyear design a tire that was capable of running on that track, drivers, car owners, crew members, and fans be damned. They can blame the diamond grinding of the track surface all they want, they tested on this surface, saw that tires were wearing out in less than ten laps and then did absolutely nothing about it. We have all been fed the company line about how the COT improved driver safety and have continued to watch the sport in spite of the poor racing the new car has produced. If Nascar’s main concern was driver safety why would they allow their drivers to run on a track that their car clearly could not handle on tires that could barely last five laps at three quarter’s of the speed the cars could have been running? How is the COT platform safer for the drivers when it runs almost as fast as the old cars but isn’t capable of turning? Nascar grew to it’s current status by giving the fans great racing and giving it’s sponsors great exposure. It is painfully obvious to anyone that has followed the sport for any length of time that this is no longer the case. The only reason they even run the races anymore is just so they will have a place to run their commercials. I haven’t seen Nascar offering any refunds for the three ringed circus they called a race yesterday so when you look at it’s easy to tell the score, Nascar 1- drivers, teams, sponsors, fans 0. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of effort on Nascar’s part to ever lure me back to one of their races again.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
dna404: I haven’t heard anything about any sort of refund for teams. I would highly doubt that anything like that would happen.
In terms of tires, the teams were able to get by with the Indy tires provided. NASCAR didn’t have to break out the Pocono tires they brought in for a backup. If you go by an average, I would imagine most the teams maybe did 2 or 3 more stops then normal. Not a huge difference.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
The tire was a big enough miss that you have to ask questions about the process for choosing it. It strikes me that you wouldn’t need an open test to figure it out, all you’d need is one car, one set of the same tires, and 10 laps. That would be enough to tell you there’s a problem. So why didn’t the tire test do it? One possibility is that the track was very different back in April–but at least temperature wise, it wasn’t. One is that the setup on the cars at the tire test was significantly different. As Rick Mast will say tomorrow on our Rowdy podcast (plug, sorry), the teams are probably doing vastly different things with the car now than they were back in April. Another is that the tire itself was somehow significantly different between now and then for some reason. Or, finally, that Goodyear ignored the evidence assuming the track would “rubber-up” and stop wearing out the tires. Or maybe some combination of all of the above. I would really hope that NASCAR and/or Goodyear would do the fans the service of explaining how the tire could be so off. Yes, NASCAR did its best with the situation at the track, and they really leave it to Goodyear to bring a tire that’s both durable and racey–clearly not an easy job–but I still want to know why it happened. I think what we all ended up watching was a competitive tire test.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
I have several questions in watching the mini heats yesterday. First, what is the rational for Nascar deciding how tests are run, what tracks, and who can show up. I’ve heard some reports say that this was a track that Goodyear invited only 3 drivers to for tire test. I would think going into the year knowing the COT and new problems it would present, along with the tire issues, and being able to know that certain tracks present certain problems, such as speed, layout, material of track, and surface. Seems to me that Nascar and Good year carry both blame. Nascar for not anticipating the potential for issues, and Goodyear not requesting more cars and drivers in a race setting.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I was at this race yesterday. I was sitting in the first turn, we were getting pelted with what felt like sand. Everything was covered with black sand around us. We usually get dirty, but this is the worst it has ever been. People around us were leaving and alot were booing at the last couple of cautions because 10 laps isn’t a race.
I am just thankful that no one was hurt. They run 200 mph into the corners, I heard Tony say that it was hard to run hard into the corners not knowing if the tires were going to hold.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Bass Masters, Junior said in his post race interview that the tires in the April test performed the same as the tires in the race. To me that seems to confirm that Goodyear and Nascar both ignored the data from the testing. If that is indeed the case I think it would put the credibility of the sport in serious doubt.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I am in the minority here but I enjoyed the race. It was interesting to see the strategy work out and to see who could figure it out and rise to the top. I know they were only going 60-70% and all the cautions did get tedious. But, Jimmy Johnson is the best driver and Knaus is the smartest crew chief and they won, like it should be. The 48 team figured out what the track would give them, how fast they could go and then they took what they could. They were the best team all weekend. They were the fastest all qualifying, practice and then in the race. Even with all of the problems. This race goes to show that the best teams will rise to the top. I thought it was more interesting than watching someone get out front and check out and then hoping for caution so that the field bunches up to see some action.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Gotta say … that first paragraph in of itself pretty much sums it up. It was a horrible race, plain and simple. NASCAR acknowledged the severity of the problem, which is good to go in my book, so now let’s move on. It’s just unfortunate that the tire issues had to overshadow a great run by Johnson.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Honestly, Johnson winning was probably the saving grace for NASCAR at the end of the race. The #48 was on the pole and consistently ran up front during the race. We were all left with the impression that while the race might have been lacking, at least the best driver/car/team won.
Just imagine what would have happened if a team that usually isn’t a contender had won the race! If the running order at the end had been something like #66, #28, #45, #00, #5 (just picking random teams here that haven’t won) there would have been a huge outcry from everybody. “Russian Roulette! Terrible and unfair racing conditions!” With Johnson winning, NASCAR is spared from that.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I too enjoyed the race.
They should’ve tried spraying some VHT in the corners to at least try to get the track to rubber up.
on Jul 28th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
I was at the race on the inside of the track near the start/finish line and can say that I also enjoyed the race. It was annoying to see cautions for what appeared to be no reason (we didn’t know they were all competition cautions right away), but I don’t know how this wasn’t different from a lot of Nascar races at tracks like Martinsville or Bristol in the past where there were a bunch of race-related cautions.
The pit strategy was also interesting to watch, where drivers who were in the Top 5 all of a sudden fell 9-10 spots because they went with 4 tires, then had to work their way back towards the front of the race on the next several laps (Jeff Gordon, for example).
The final comment I will make…I was at Chicagoland Speedway two weeks ago and at Indy for this event; I personally enjoyed this recent race a bit more than seeing whoever the lead driver was jump out to a huge advantage after each restart (usually Kyle Busch) and then watch everyone else go in circles for 30 laps until the next caution.
on Jul 29th, 2008 at 10:46 am
The responsibility for this whole mess lies on NASCAR’s shoulders. GoodYear makes the tires, but its NASCAR who gave the contract to GoodYear to build the tires. At the end of the day the sanctioning body is responsible for the event. Knowing that Indy is probably in the top 5 of important races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, why was there not an open test assigned to Indy? Why did NASCAR feel it was more important for the Cup teams to test at Pocono over Indy?
Knowing the history of past races at Indy and how it takes practice and the beginning of the race to lay down enough rubber to keep the tires lasting a full fuel run. And knowing that this would be the first race for the COT at the famed Indy Speedway. You would think NASCAR would see this and would have mandated test date for Indy.
This is not the first time GoodYear has not brought an adaquit tire to a race this year. Each time the end result has been NASCAR and GoodYear saying that the tire issues are a product of the new COT car. GoodYear is still learning what the COT needs and NASCAR is aware of this.
Well if they are aware of this then why do they continue to let it happen. Bottom line is GoodYear made a bad tire for this race and several others this year. But they can only build what NASCAR is asking them for. If NASCAR does not let GoodYear get enough test info from the teams then they can only build a tire on assumptions.
GoodYear assumed the tire compound they had last year would be good for this year. GoodYear knows the track and track preparation has not changed. So all they can do is build what they know. And that was a tire that worked on the COY. Not the COT.
on Jul 29th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
The one recurring theme I keep hearing is that NASCAR did all they could do in the interest of driver safety. If driver safety was such a concern, then apparently pit crew safety must be out the window!
They should freeze the field during mandatory competition cautions so no driver gains or loses position before of after the pit stops. When you saw drivers moving up 10 or more positions during those stops, you can be sure that the safety officials were too busy staring at the cords coming through the tires than noticing if any short cuts were being taken by the teams. I bet the team engineer with the FedEx team regrets trying to catch the runaway tire that got knocked out of the tire carrier’s hands by Reed Sorenson’s car as it was charging out of pit road too close to Hamlin’s car on the exit.
NASCAR is too worried about putting on the show and the heck with the consequences. Driver safety? The Car of Today shows you how feeble their attempt is to fob that concept on to us the fans.
on Jul 29th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
TexaninCali: I agree with you. I was fascinated with the teams having to play “Russian Roulette” with those bad tires. Chad Knaus should be commended on paying attention to race strategy rather than whining about “what should have been”.
Here’s the problem - NASCAR decided to take away 50% of the down force of the old car with the COT but is trying to make the COT “more racy” by telling Goodyear to ship tires to Indy that are a soft as a Magic Rub eraser.
Bad combination!
on Jul 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
F1 pressured Michelin to refund the fans’ ticket costs when they had their tire debacle a few years ago at the USGP.
What are the odds that NASCAR and Goodyear will do the same for stock car fans who witnessed just as silly a spectacle?
on Aug 1st, 2008 at 10:58 am
What a bunch of cry babies. And I mean everyone that had a complaint about the tires from drivers to spectators.
If you want to talk about dangerous conditions try racing next to Michael Waltrip, Juan Pablo or several others. Racing next to these guys makes the tire issue look pretty benign.
Everyone had the same tires. I say as long as it’s fair for all drivers it’s “game on” no matter what the conditions. I say the tire issue was just another variable to deal with on raceday and the team that manages all the variables the best will probably be in “Victory Lane.”
As for the fans, all anyone will talk about on Monday morning is the carnage. And I think they got thier monies worth.
Mike “The cry baby hater”