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I reported on this just after the Bud Shootout, when Ryan Pemberton, crew chief of the #83 Toyota, had mentioned that there was a problem with tires only lasting for about 8 or 9 laps before giving up, especially the right rears. So, here we are on Saturday morning, and despite Goodyear coming out with a press release overdramatizing how they "found" a discrepancy with some of the tires on some of the cars and "recalled just those affected tires", Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart are just logging some laps during practice and BOOM! Newman's right rear tire shreds, blows out and he takes out his car owner.
After my article on the situation "Tired of Talking About Tires", there was hardly any mention of it on any news forum at all. But, now that Goodyear has tried to save face and subsequently had their asses handed to them after this morning's fiasco, lets talk about how "out of touch" Goodyear still is:
I reported last weekend that:
"At the rate of tire wear described by Pemberton, race teams will need to have 25 sets of tires for the Daytona 500, alone. At $2500/ set, that means that teams will spend about $62,500 just in tires alone next Sunday. These figures do not include the sets that will be needed for the Twin 125's and any extra laps run between next Thursday and Sunday's race. Apparently, nobody has told Goodyear officials that the country is in a depression, and that future layoffs and race team closures could result if there isn't tighter control on expenditures. Goodyear seems to see no reason why race teams shouldn't be able to shell out $62,500/ race. Of course, $62,500 x 36 races x 42 race teams comes out to $94,500,000, which might be one reason Goodyear seems to be monetarily tone deaf."
Tony Stewart had this to say in Jorge Mondaca's article:
"Same stuff that we always talk about every year is the failures that Goodyear has," Stewart said. "I think that's part of their marketing campaign. The more we talk about it, the more press they get.
"I think they forget that it's supposed to be in a good way, not a bad way."
And, this was Goodyear's response:
Stu Grant, Goodyear's General Manager of Worldwide Racing, expressed an appreciation for Stewart's heightened level of frustration.
"Tony is a passionate race driver and he is extremely frustrated right now with the condition of the race car right now and the unfortunate circumstances," said Grant. "Certainly he is frustrated and that's what you hear in his comments."
Duh !!!!!!!!!! Ya think?!!!
Grant also had this to say about Newman's tire problem:
Grant said Goodyear's inspection of Newman's tire indicated it was punctured when he ran over something.
"The tire shows no evidence of high wear, it shows no evidence of any kind of blistering, shows no evidence of any kind of abuse. The other thing we always check on is fender rub-through. We do see some of those at high-speed racetracks.
"There isn't enough of the upper sidewall to be able to tell if there was any kind of fender rub-through, but what we did see was a clear hole through the tread and both belts in the piece we got off the No. 39 car. At this point in time, the evidence indicates that it is a classic case of a clear punctured right rear."
But, Stewart and Newman disagreed. On Friday, crew chief Tony Gibson said that even before the crash, Newman had "felt a vibration" just six laps into the race.
"The tire started shaking and it chunked a blister off about that big," Gibson said, indicating a foot-long segment. "The rest of the tire looked perfect, but it pitched off a big chunk of it six laps into the run. Either he ran over something or it has to be a de-lam (de-lamination)."
It is interesting to note that the very same problem occurred on Newman's No. 39, Mark Martin's No. 5 and Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 during the Gatorade Duel qualifying races. Foot long chunks of missing tire were also shown on national television during the Budweiser Shootout, yet Goodyear maintains that Thursday's and Saturday's issues are not related.
Goodyear official, Stu Grant, also speculated that several crew chiefs had purportedly not gone with Goodyear's recommended tire setup, which could be part of the reason for the catastrophic failures.
My question? Since when did Goodyear start dictating races and race setups? Aren't crew chiefs supposed to try everything possible to set the car up for maximum speed and handling? Shouldn't the tire manfacturer make a racing tire that allows for changeable setups in a racing situation? Why can't NASCAR come out with one specification for all tracks and races and allow any tire company that meets the specs to supply tires for whatever team they wish?
Oh, that's right...that would make too much sense.