Tony Stewart on Tires

[Tristar Racing]

I took the time to write this reply over at Robot uprising (type robbys uprising into google, it asks if you meant "robot uprising", pretty fitting for the band wagon fans over there, haha), and I figured I'd add it here for you guys to read.

I guess Tony Stewart was going on his yearly complaint session about Goodyear, which always makes me sick. Below is my response to people discussing Tonys complaints. Its funny, the way he talks, you would think Tony has a mechanical engineering degree and ten years of experience with race tire development, haha.

"I worked for Goodyears racing division as an engineering intern, and had a lot of time to spend with the sanctioning body and the competitors. Tonys comments crack me up every year. That fat ass needs to realize Goodyear brings a tire package that Nascar asks for, many times hard tires are the result of Nascar wanting to slow speeds down and not have tire failure-related issues.

Many times this backfires, mainly because teams introduce a lot of camber to the right front to make the car turn, which causes bad tire wear and a lot of temperature in one area of the tire.

Tony always has and always will have an issue with Goodyear. I wont go into detail why he has the issue (some of it stems from his dirt teams and Goodyears suposed lack of support) but I will say please as a fan understand Goodyear is instructed by Nascar on what protocal they want from a tire, and that Goodyear has the technology to simulate tire performance on any track, any corner of the car. Their machine is almost like a 7 post shaker, but just for tires. They can even simulate tire performance on a specific track, driving a specific groove.

Does Goodyear make mistakes? Oh, definately. But its not to the level some of the drivers cry about. Oh, and I refuse to call that moron smoke. You cant just give yourself a lame nickname because you think its cool."

[RGFan]

Will not even try to pretend that I know more about tires then you do. I will take you at your word.......Good Post;)

[Tristar Racing]

Thanks, Im not the end all of tire knowledge, but I do know a good amount.

Heres the link to the dicussion, if anyone cares to read more. I did cover Hoosier's cheating in Nascar in 1994 if anyone ever wanted to know the real story of what happened.

http://www.robbysuprising.com/forum/topic/show?id=1646874%3ATopic%3A77471

[RGFan]

My goodness, all of the fairweather fans are treating you like the anti-christ over at the Uprising.........You handled them well

[Disco_Chief]

I think FA Stewarts comments after the race were a joke. The guy is a crybaby, the tires made him do his job. He had to drive the race car, sack up man the tires were safe and not failing due to over aggressive set ups.

I hope nascar docks him points for being such a drama queen.

[RGFan]

Remember guys, Tony Stewart is on probation for tapping Kurt Busch's nose with his fist at Daytona. I wonder if that will play into any of this come Wednesday

[Ryno]

He needs to quit crying. The guys in the booth noted today that speeds were 10 mph off last year, with the new car. EVERYBODY was sliding around. If these guys are the "best in the world" (laughing), then getting a car a little sideways is no big deal. The F1 guys go faster IN THE RAIN. Stewart needs to cut the hair, start running to the races, and realize him being 250+ is killing his car. No wonder Kyle whoops up on him, he's giving away 100 lbs.

[RGFan]

While I agree with you that he needs to quit whining.....Comparing them to F1 is hardly an equal comparison. I would love to see the F1 guys get into cars with out any computer aided controls, A quarter of the downforce, tires with half of the surface area with a car weighing almost 3 times as much. Oh yeah, one of "The Best" did come and do this........Juantoya. he is not necessarily setting the world on fire. WIth that said, I could hardly call a driver with all of those aids the "Worlds Best";) But you are right, Joe Gibbs should shove a mouth piece in his mouth, attach it to his helmet and tell him to just shut up and drive.

[Disco_Chief]

I think FA Stewarts comments after the race were a joke. The guy is a crybaby, the tires made him do his job. He had to drive the race car, sack up man the tires were safe and not failing due to over aggressive set ups.

I hope nascar docks him points for being such a drama queen.

[EMS702]

[QUOTE=Disco_Chief;419942]I think FA Stewarts comments after the race were a joke. The guy is a crybaby, the tires made him do his job. He had to drive the race car, sack up man the tires were safe and not failing due to over aggressive set ups.

I hope nascar docks him points for being such a drama queen.[/Q

Why did his sponsor fine him $50,000.00?

[rojodiablo]

Tony Stewarts' accountant can expect to have to cut a fat check to the NASCAR fines/ penalty department any day now.....

[RGFan]

It will be interesting to see what happens with him being on probation and all....Actions Detrimental to Stock Car Racing

[Hemp]

I dont know if that kind of harsh criticism is going to attract any other tire companies

[b-makk]

Why didn't Tony pull out one of his multiple spare tires that he is always carrying around?

[DEZERTSUB]

Why didn't Tony pull out one of his multiple spare tires that he is always carrying around?

Now thats funny!:D

[Bricoop]

Haha, I just watched the video on Robby's site and the very last last comment:

Rob Harris "What tires would you rather have on your car?"

RG "Toyos."

[Tristar Racing]

Haha, I just watched the video on Robby's site and the very last last comment:

Rob Harris "What tires would you rather have on your car?"

RG "Toyos."

Sometimes what people say, and how they feel are different. Im sure Robby would be more than willing to plug Toyo for having better tires, seeing as he is sponsored by them. But the truth? Well sometimes behind closed doors, the driver pulls a 180. See the attached photo.

Im not saying Goodyear is better than Toyo, really the only reason I posted was to attach the photo. Wel that, and I hate Monster. :)

[Bricoop]

Sometimes what people say, and how they feel are different. Im sure Robby would be more than willing to plug Toyo for having better tires, seeing as he is sponsored by them. But the truth? Well sometimes behind closed doors, the driver pulls a 180. See the attached photo.


I believe Robby said it for two reasons:

1. He obviously has a huge contract with Toyo and is going to recommend them over GY.

2. I believe he personally wouldn't have said something if he thought Nascar/Goodyear brought a good tire package to the ATL. Most of the teams were upset with the tire wear and Nascar/Goodyear need to do more testing in the future to develop a tire that will Grip the track and not blow. Nascar needs to either give the teams recommended max camber angles or do something similar to what RGFan has suggested. Lets all be honest, the racing at ATL sucked, maybe with a better tire package the racing would have been more interesting, but who knows.

[RGFan]

I believe that they do have recommended max camber angles that have been given to teams.......Correct me if I am wrong. I remember hearing many times before, Goodyears explanations involved teams having issues exdceeded their recommended camber angles.

[RGFan]

Heard that Mike Helton and Tony Stewart got into quite a loud "discussion" about Goodyear and their tires or lack there of. Nothing was resolved, Stewart continued to bash Goodyear on his radio show. No penalties, believe it or not. Matt, he was asking for a rep from Goodyear to call in, I am sure he would have taken your call, being a former employee.

[Tristar Racing]

Heard that Mike Helton and Tony Stewart got into quite a loud "discussion" about Goodyear and their tires or lack there of. Nothing was resolved, Stewart continued to bash Goodyear on his radio show. No penalties, believe it or not. Matt, he was asking for a rep from Goodyear to call in, I am sure he would have taken your call, being a former employee.

Damn it, I would have called in instantly! I should see if I can call the next time his show is on, anyone have the time and/or number?

[RGFan]

Go to the Sirius Radio Webiste. He made it a point to state that he was not upset with the factory workers at Goodyear or the tire mounters.........His beef is with the incompetent engineers.

[NIKAL]

I listened to the Tony Stewart show and Tony and Mike had a civil discussion and it did not get loud as stated. Here is a transcript of the conversation from Sirius radio.

More comments by Stewart about Goodyear; NASCAR's Helton responds: Monday night on "Tony Stewart Live" on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, hosts Stewart and Matt Yocum discussed the race this past Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and the controversy over the performance of Goodyear's racing tires. NASCAR President Mike Helton was a guest on the show and discussed the issue with Stewart. The transcript below contains highlights from last night's show.

Tony Stewart: "As much grief as I'm going to give them here in the next 15 minutes about what we had yesterday, they (Goodyear) have done some good things in the sport and they have had sparks of brilliance where we've actually had tires that were actually nice to drive on but I've been a part of the Cup series for 10 years now and problems of blowing tires and getting a bad set of tires, that problem the whole 10 years I've been here has never been resolved and never been fixed."

Stewart: "I'm not overreacting about Goodyear tires. This was my opinion about what we had. I'm the only driver that is in all this that has raced in Sprint car and Midget racing, Silver Crown racing, modifieds, super modifieds, the IRL with Indy cars and stock cars. I'm one of the few guys that has run enough of this stuff to actually know what it is like to have driven for Firestone, to have driven for Hoosier tires, you name it. We've even drove for Goodyear in some of these series but what we had yesterday at this level of competition was not acceptable."

Stewart: "We've complained for years on numerous occasions behind closed doors to Goodyear and the problem doesn't get solved. So maybe this was one of these cases where maybe finally something good will come out of this. And if it sounds like we're whining about it it's because we're trying to get their attention."

Stewart: "For Goodyear to say that they were satisfied with that, if they truly believe that they were satisfied with the way the race went yesterday I'm more disappointed than ever. And I can't believe that NASCAR, at the end of the day, is truly, honestly, happy with the results."

Stewart: "We invited Goodyear to come on [the show] and state their side of it two different times in the last 24 hours and they graciously declined. I think that basically covers what we're dealing with here. I still say the best thing they do in our sport is the trophy. They give the coolest trophy out every year. I will give them 100% credit for that. The gold car they give to the champion every year is one of the coolest things ever but to me that's where it stops. As this sport has evolved they've fallen further and further behind. I don't know what the solution is for it. I'm not a tire engineer. I'm not a tire specialist but whatever they've got going on there in the program they've got right now isn't sufficient to do what we're doing right now in this series."

NASCAR President Mike Helton was a guest on last night's show and discussed the tire issue with Stewart.

NASCAR President Mike Helton: "Tony, we're all well aware of your opinion and you're right to express your opinion, albeit, I think maybe a little bit too strong in this case. What NASCAR asks for Goodyear to do this year as we completely run this new chassis from racetrack to racetrack is, first and foremost, bring a safe tire, a tire that is safe for the competitors to race on. And then bring one that is durable. And certainly bring one that is consistent so that everybody up and down pit road has the same tire as they compete in the events every weekend. I think what we did have in Atlanta was a tire that did not fail and we had a tire that was safe from that aspect and that it delivered in an environment that is a challenge right now because we're going back to a lot of places in '08 with a new chassis, new configurations underneath them by the crew chiefs and the engineers that are throwing challenges at Goodyear. And Goodyear all along the way has stepped up. They have been responsible. They have made a major commitment to put the right tires under NASCAR's national series and we're proud of our relationship with them. That doesn't say we're not going to go into weekends - we have in the past, we will in the future - where there will be challenges and those challenges are what we do and what Goodyear faces and works to fix. And that is nothing unusual in NASCAR. But what we didn't have Sunday was a tire that blew, a tire that failed, a tire that caused a lot of cautions and a lot of incidents that we have had at racetracks, Tony, in your career and certainly in the years that I've been in NASCAR and been a NASCAR fan."

Helton: "I think it is a little bit too much to blame whatever your opinion on Sunday was completely on Goodyear because we're all in this thing together, every crew member up and down pit road, every car owner, every driver, every supplier like Goodyear in the sport that wants it to do good, wants their product to be right. And I think Goodyear has made a commitment to that for NASCAR and for the competitors. Now that doesn't mean we're going to be exactly right every weekend. Sometimes NASCAR does things wrong. We make mistakes and we go back and we learn from them and we fix them. Goodyear's not perfect but they sure try hard and they're not trying any harder than they are today to put the right package together for us. If it's a hard tire in Atlanta when we come back they'll work on it just like we've done in the past when we've gone to races where you get out and think, 'Man, I wish we had a little bit different tire.' The one thing Goodyear does is they look, they listen and they respond and I don't expect them to do anything different in this case. Everybody that watched and was at that race yesterday in Atlanta, I think, will have to admit that it was a safe event. The tires did not fail and, oh by the way, NASCAR has been on Goodyear to harden them up a little bit so they would be durable and keep the corner speeds down with this new chassis. But we'll sit down with Goodyear and talk to them today. Working, actually this week, tomorrow, on the Darlington tires and that's an ongoing process between Goodyear and NASCAR and that won't stop. We work hard to make all the right decisions for the entire industry. And we're proud and pleased to be related with Goodyear. I think they do take their involvement in building race tires for NASCAR's national series very serious and take it very responsibly."

Tony Stewart: "For an example for this weekend, we did the tire test - or it wasn't a tire test but it was a NASCAR open test in the fall last year when we ran for two days so we basically were at the track three days and then stayed over two more days to run the COT in Atlanta. And then we come back to the track and the week before we come back we're told as teams that all of a sudden we're going to be on a totally different tire and get the information on the tire a week before. Why do you think that Goodyear waited so long to make that decision when there weren't any problems at the tire test? What do you think made them make the decision to make such a drastic change between the tire that we tested and the tire that we ended up racing yesterday?"
Helton: "Well, I do know that there was a tire test in Atlanta, that the tire did not wear all the way through a cycle and had some wear problems so they came back and did another test and created the tire that we used yesterday from those tests and from all the engineering they got from all of that, from the open test and from the two tire tests that they did in Atlanta. I don't know the exact flow of information as it might move around in the garage area and from Goodyear to the teams but I do know that this new chassis - we saw this last year [and] we're going to see more of it this year - where the setups that you put under these cars are still somewhat, I think, a work in progress and experiment. And what you can't get out of a tire test, I don't think, I think you can get one team's perception of a setup [and] you get a couple of teams' runs on a test or during a tire test, that doesn't necessarily fit the entire garage area as each driver and crew chief goes to try to build the chemistry underneath these cars setup-wise to make the driver comfortable and, oh by the way, to make the car go faster, because that's the nature of what you guys do. You want this car to go as fast as you can do it. And there's a comfort level that keeps you [from] going any faster sometimes and I think that's what we saw yesterday."
****************************
Stewart: "You can understand from [NASCAR's] standpoint, listening to Mike, what their objective is and what they feel like Goodyear's objective is but I think they would feel totally different about it if we made every one of the high-ranking NASCAR officials ride in the right seat this past Sunday and feel what we felt. I think they might have a little different opinion about it."

Stewart: "I do respect what Mike says and Mike's opinion is I'm overreacting about it. My opinion of it is I don't feel like I'm overreacting at all. I feel very strongly, not only myself but others voiced their opinions about it. I made mine clearer than everybody else, obviously. I think I've been more disappointed in the past 10 years in Goodyear than most of these guys have. I've dealt with them in different forms of racing and there is a consistent variable there that's disappointment in performance and I think that's what leads me to be a little more vocal and opinionated about it than some of the other drivers. My whole theory is maybe if we bark loud enough and long enough maybe the higher-ups will hear the barking and do something about it."

"Tony Stewart Live" airs every Monday (8-10pm ET) exclusively on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, channel 128. Monday's show re-airs tonight at 11pm/et and Thursday at 10pm/et.(SIRIUS PR)

[RGFan]

The discussion I was talking about between Tony Stewart and Mike Helton did not happen on Sirius as you stated, but at the track. And it was stated that it was heated;)

[HardCharger81]

Allowing a wider set of tires, and opening up NASCAR to other tire mfg's will make NASCAR a faster, and safer race series. Its been talked about over and over.

[Tristar Racing]

Allowing a wider set of tires, and opening up NASCAR to other tire mfg's will make NASCAR a faster, and safer race series. Its been talked about over and over.

Please please explain to me how more manufacturers will make it safer?

If manufacturer A takes a risk with internal design of the tire and/or the outer compound, the tire will be faster. It will also be less safe. So will the racers opt for the safer tire, or the faster one? I guarantee they will always opt for the faster one. At that point, manufacturer B changes their design to mimic A, also creating a less safe design. And this cycle repeats. Go back to the 1994 season, and look at al the tire failures. You dont even have to look long into the season, two drivers died on the pole winning Hoosier tires during speedweeks. Failures were up the entire year, up until the end when Hoosier was told politely by Nascar to not come back; mainly due to their cheating.

Tire wars produce more speed, but don’t increase safety, ever. Tire design is not just deciding how much speed and safety you want out of a tire, like other engineering disciplines every change affects another area.

Its funny to me that you wrote a tire war will increase speed and safety, when those two by definition have a negative relationship. An increase in speed is never an increase in safety. Well that, and Nascar is constantly trying to find ways to make cars slower, hence why the COT is slower at the tracks than the previous car.