Racing Tires

[Lucky161]

This will no doubt tell my age, but here goes anyway. When I was a kid, many Saturday mornings would be accompanying my dad looking for tires for the race car. We would go around to the service stations, particularly Exxon (they were Enco back then) and look for used Atlas Bucrons. That was the Enco house brand of tires that were made for larger cars like Buicks, Oldsmobiles and Caddys. And apparently a soft tire gave a soft ride that was desirable for those kind of cars. It also made them "perfect" for race tires. Bring back any memories?

[NeilTPS]

Yes ... that does bring back memories of how far we would go to make a race tire out of a street tire.

 

When preparing to race in the four cylinder 24 hour races at the Autodromo of Monterrey in Mexico, the American cars were required to use the same Mexican made Uniroyal radial tire as required by FIA of Mexico rules.

 

We had to go to some extremes to comply with their tire rule ie:

 

1. Drive from San Antonio to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

 

2. Purchase eight 13" Uniroyal radials from a dealer.

 

3. Drive from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to San Antonio.

 

4. Have the eight tires mounted.

 

5. And the painful part ... have 50% of the new tread shaved off in a process called "plaining". The reason for this was to try to make a race tire out of a street tire.

 

6. Then have the eight tires balanced.

 

And finally ... tow the car to Monterrey and hope that the eight tires would survive practice, qualifying and the 24 Horas de Monterrey.

 

Lucky161 - Appreciate you for starting this thread.

 

Thanks - Neil Upchurch

[Budman]

The "Slicks" commonly used at asphalt tracks "back in the day" were "M&H Racemaster Crusiers", as opposed to their dragster tire, the "M&H Racemaster Dragster" tire.

[Lucky161]

Yes ... that does bring back memories of how far we would go to make a race tire out of a street tire.

 

When preparing to race in the four cylinder 24 hour races at the Autodromo of Monterrey in Mexico, the American cars were required to use the same Mexican made Uniroyal radial tire as required by FIA of Mexico rules.

 

We had to go to some extremes to comply with their tire rule ie:

 

1. Drive from San Antonio to Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.

 

2. Purchase eight 13" Uniroyal radials from a dealer.

 

3. Drive from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico to San Antonio.

 

4. Have the eight tires mounted.

 

5. And the painful part ... have 50% of the new tread shaved off in a process called "plaining". The reason for this was to try to make a race tire out of a street tire.

 

6. Then have the eight tires balanced.

 

And finally ... tow the car to Monterrey and hope that the eight tires would survive practice, qualifying and the 24 Horas de Monterrey.

 

Lucky161 - Appreciate you for starting this thread.

 

Thanks - Neil Upchurch

 

Thank you. Glad it brought back some memories for you. Speaking of memories, do you remember Owen Gray?

[rosco]

1950/1951 Larry Bettenger and many others in So Calif. would purchase US Royal Master tires, they would run the tire with the white wall on the inside, that tire would wear down and become a slick tire with a lot of grip, the biggest problem with that tire, sometimes the side wall would give out, they won many races with the US Royal Master.

[NeilTPS]

Lucky161: You wrote "Thank you. Glad it brought back some memories for you. Speaking of memories, do you remember Owen Gray?"

 

Please refresh my memory ... who is Owen Gray?

 

Neil Upchurch

[oldracer]

my fatherinlaw still has a few of those old bias tires that are brand new. I tried to get them for a car at c.c.s. but he will not part with them ------YET

[Lucky161]

Lucky161: You wrote "Thank you. Glad it brought back some memories for you. Speaking of memories, do you remember Owen Gray?"

 

Please refresh my memory ... who is Owen Gray?

 

Neil Upchurch

 

Neil, Owen Gray was from Lubbock and raced in the Mexican Road Race. I know that he never won, but I believe (but don't know) that he did have at least one top five finish. I didn't meet him until after he was pretty old and he died back in the 70s. I've been searching archives looking for some results, but results from back then are hard to find. I'll keep looking.

[texastracker]

lucky161. you bet me to the punch! My last "Brucron" I recently gave away to one of the old master car builders. He has done some old race car restoration including the car that Gordon Woolley drove @ the Sucide Bowl in 1948-50. It was a 900 14 and was like new! I had talked to him and I said that I wanted to come take a pic of it to post on here. I better quit dragging my feet.

 

I have been too busy lately, production demands at work have have increased and we have been working what we call 12-2's. That is 12 days on and 2 off. I might try to run by there this weekend and take that pic to post on your thread. Thanks for starting the thread.

[texastracker]

 

Lucky, I haven't taken the time to go take a pic of the 900/14. But I did hunt up this old add from the April 1965 issue of "Hot Rod".