Rick, yes I will be racing the sportsman race at your charity weekend. First 100 lapper I’ve run in a long time.
Rick call me please, on Saturday if you could, I would like to discuss a couple things with you. 407-223-6439
Patrick Thomas 25
Patrick you didn’t start until 95? I thought I saw you or maybe raced against you at Lake City before that, 90-93? It seems I remember you from back then somehow
1995, I graduated high school got a job bought a car and started racing at Thunderbowl speedway in Valdosta. Probably early 1997 before I made a trip to lake city.
Patrick Thomas 25
Rick, I sent you a PM.
Patrick & Scott
Patrick I have the first race Saturday and it is going to be a bit busy for me, I can talk but may forget to call you, but please call me 407-497-0448. Thanks
Scott I PM’d you back sir !
that would be awesome for some of us that cant afford new tires every other week shit i struggle to get the car done
Seem like the wheels are already in motion, but I want to jump on the bandwagon of support for a harder tire! LOVE IT!!
Thanks Steve and Racer 55 (Ernie Reed maybe?). It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon as we have Desoto and New Smyrna testing and Rick Bristol of the Pro Truck Series watching the results closely. I’ve heard a 3rd track owner is also considering it, but we will have to see on that! That leaves a lot of other tracks not on board to look at this (as of yet!) If you don’t race at DSS or NSS I would ask you to post your opinions so that your track operator can see what his or her competitors have to say. I would love to see this implemented statewide, but that is in the hands of the power players. But the ball is rolling. If you like this then I say post away. You know what they say, “strength in numbers”…
Scott I would like jump on bandwagon as well…l have a brand new pro truck sitting in the garage… I to would be a supporter of the harder tire!!
Thanks Mark! Maybe you can have the Cook Brothers Drinking Team send you down their take-offs (in exchange for a keg, of course)!
I received a phone call from a track owner Friday night that surprised me, while I will not mention his name or his track, let’s just say this guy is a prominent figure in racing in the central Florida area. He first told me he was very skeptical that changing tires to a harder compound would bring more cars out to the track. Which I informed him of the people I had talked to all agreed that if they didn’t have to buy tires every one to two races just to be competitive that they would be racing more often than they are now.
By the end of our thirty minute conversation we had discussed the last tire test, how it was done, who had taken part in it, and the results. Then we talked about my results with these tires, I ran 5 races in a 6 week period in the middle of the summer back in 2012 on these tires. It took 3 sets of tires to win those 5 races in a row at 4 different race tracks. The tires were junk after the second night each time and it took new tires to keep running the way I was. The car handled very well with the exception of one night, which was my first time ever at Showtime for the grand opening sportsman race, which I lucked into the win there.
Just when I thought the conversation was going no where and it was time to get off the phone, I was told by this promoter that he would also be testing these tires in race conditions, in his next 50 lap sportsman race with the winningest sportsman driver in the state of Florida, over the last 2 years, I don’t need to mention his name we all know who it is. So hopefully this will get an honest test also and maybe they won’t have to buy so many tires either.
To those skeptics that think the higher ups don’t read and pay attention to what is being suggested on this message board, you are greatly mistaken. They listen if you present a valid idea with possible benefits for them. But throwing stones and insults will get you no where. That is the lesson to be learned by this thread.
Patrick Thomas 25
Cool! I give this thread 4 1/2 out of 5 stars!
it will give some of us low buget people a chance to win they last long and there cheaper . I think it will bring out some of them jack stand cars
@Racer55: Yes these tires will give the “low buck” guys a chance to win for a few reasons. With a little less grip, expensive horsepower will mean a little less (you gotta get the power to the ground) and by leaving tires on your car for 3-4 races you will be able to adjust your car and make it handle better for free instead of making it handle by throwing $520+ of tires on it. But I wouldn’t look for these tires to cost less, except for the rubber compound they are structurally the same tire we are on now. With FL ST Tax they should cost around the same. But given the data that suggests they will be competitive for 3-4 races on a Sportsman or Truck (should last even longer on a Super Stock or Street Stock) it should go a long way toward getting those “jack stand” cars back to the speedway, along with getting the cars that are currently racing to race more often.
This post should somehow be kept at the top of the page… Does anyone have sticky powers? Keeping costs down is going to really help our sport out big time and we all need to be aware of ways to do this, especially with the supporting divisions. Keeping the cost down DOES allow people to race more.
I sent a set of (4) 2 race old Hoosier 800s that had almost no wear, down to Scott for part of this test. I am really personally looking forward to the results because we have lots of experience with the 800s up here and they are an absolutely fantastic tire in so many ways. I really firmly believe this will be a huge positive.
I’m happy to see this tire theory actually being tested. But i’m interested in knowing the results of testing regarding the other part of this theory. The old " excessive horsepower will mean less ", or " it will keep them big motor cars from having the advantage ", or " it will give everyone else a chance to win if handling and driver count more ".
Is there any documented case over the long term, of any dominating driver in Florida asphalt short track racing suddenly being outrun consistently when a rule change was made to give the slower racers a " chance " ?
This tire change rule is not being tested to give “slower racers a chance”. It’s being tested to try and see if we can get a tire that will be competitive for 3-4 races instead of one, which we have now. That simply means a harder tire. The by-product of that will be cars can compete more often and tighter competition. Both are better for the fans. If you are a slower racer because your setup sucks, you will be even slower. If you are a slower racer because you’re talent level is not up to snuff, you will be even slower. If your car is parked because you think you are underpowered, you may just be competitive again and want to come back out. The guys who are winning now do so by setting the car up well, having adequate HP, driving well AND buying tires every race. They will be just fine and will still win most of the races. They just might not win as much and might not stink up the show so bad. Come watch Patrick Thomas in the black 25 Sportsman on 8/16 at Desoto. He will be on this tire. The measure of success will not be how well he can time against the softer tires but rather how the lap times remain consistent lap to lap, race to race with a good driver in a good car running as hard as he can. Patrick and Critter deserve credit for making this monetary sacrifice. But we all know if this works in the end more racers will be able to run more races. Fans will see more cars in more exciting competition and track operators will have more fans, more cars and yes, ultimately sell more tires with more cars. Win-win-win.
Now if I can stay away from cars turning down the straightaway, I will be ready for this race. The car will have lots more new parts on it by the time I get there, from a pair of axel tubes, to 2 new wheels, to a new left rear shock, to a new trailing arm, to a new wedge bolt and bracket, to a new rear bumper. The list seems never ending, but not unattainable. This will all probably make the car faster anyways.
So to the racers that I can’t seem to get away from, thank you for helping make my car faster.
Rant Over
Patrick Thomas 25
See ya at Desoto on August 16th.
Gotcha. I must have misread your post #53
And from a different perspective, it’s cool to see that Kim/Robert at NSS, and Jimmy & Critter at DS are once again working together.
Although the tracks are far apart, it looks like they are trying to come up with compatible rules that work for the RACER… and not so much for the" tire deal" they all seem to get.
I’d sacrifice a bit of tire sales profits, for more cars in the PITS, any day.