THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502150587
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
One year ago at Daytona International Speedway, the story was tires.
This year, hardly anyone mentions them.
And that's just the way it should be, as far as most people in the garage are concerned.
``Goodyear has come up with a good, safe tire,'' said Steve Hmiel, Mark Martin's crew chief. ``I think it will race real good with no concern over somebody getting hurt because of the tires. Last year, sometimes it felt like it got unsafe.''
Although no one will ever be able to draw a direct connection, the 1994 season that featured the Goodyear-Hoosier tire war was the same season in which two drivers, Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr, lost their lives and a third, Ernie Irvan, was gravely injured.
``I think the way it worked last year didn't benefit anybody,'' Goodyear's director of racing, Leo Mehl, said here Tuesday during a press conference. ``I don't think that particular competition benefited anybody. We won, but I'll tell you, it was a tough victory. Things happened that those of us who have been around racing for a long time . . . well, the bottom line is, let's forget last year.''
``I'm certainly glad it's over,'' said Brett Bodine. ``Everybody is going to be out there on equal tires. It's just better to let the race teams decide who's going to win the race, not the tire companies.''
Mehl said this year's Goodyear tires will be slower and more conservative than last year's.
``We have no reason to go fast and no reason to try to break the track record every place we go,'' he said. ``What we want is a safe and reliable tire. What will happen is, we will not intentionally go faster. The tires should run a little bit cooler and wear a little bit longer.
``But we don't want to sacrifice safety by making a tire (so hard) that it won't handle,'' he said. ``You could hit the wall more often with a tire that is too conservative than with a tire that's too hung out. We're not going to sacrifice safety by making a brick that's too hard to control in the corners.''
Mehl said that because of the tire war, Goodyear used ``close to 90 different tires'' in the Winston Cup and Grand National races last year. ``That meant we constantly changed them, which meant when the checkered flag dropped, whatever tires had been developed for that event were now obsolete, because we never used that tire again. Not only would teams throw everything away when the checkered flag fell, we'd throw away everything we had.
``We don't have to go for speed like we did last year, and the result will be a drastic reduction in the number of types of tires we bring to the races. I told the guys I'd like to cut it in half.
Still, Mehl said, ``there's nothing tougher than Winston Cup because of the number of tires we have to supply,'' Mehl said. ``Just to be legal (under NASCAR rules), you're talking about 85,000 tires. These cars are tougher on tires than any other series we have. So basically NASCAR is the toughest game we play.''
Actually, Goodyear's Daytona tire this year is still a tire-war tire.
``We started making these tires before Hoosier withdrew,'' Mehl said. ``This is the same tire we would have brought if we had a competitor. We really didn't have an opportunity to try to slow the tire down. But we're very comfortable with it. It's running very cool and the construction is very reliable.''
Mehl said the Goodyear tire for Richmond also will be a tire-war tire. ``The other tires we've already adjusted,'' he added.
But even without the tire war, Goodyear's tire builders worry about their product. ``We still go to bed on Saturday night knowing we've done everything we could. And then you still worry on Sunday morning.'' by CNB