Texas Tire Monster II

[rebelracewriter]

CONTACT Sarona Winfrey

Brian Briscoe

-For Immediate Release

 

TEXAS TIRE MONSTER II - THE SEQUEL

 

FORT WORTH-DALLAS (Feb. 26, 2004) - It's back!!! The newest sleekest version

of the Texas Tire Monster is about to be unveiled for the 2004 season at Texas

Motor Speedway. Rising out of a creative idea, sketches and drawings on paper,

and some remarkable ingenuity, Texas Tire Monster II is about to lay some rubber

on the 1.5-mile super speedway in preparation for the Samsung/RadioShack 500

weekend, April 1-4.

The original Monster was the brainchild of speedway president and general

manager Eddie Gossage, who wanted to find a way to work rubber into the speedway

asphalt and drew a rough sketch of a trailer with multiple tires on it.

"The Texas Tire Monster is another example of the tremendous talent and

creativity we have here at Texas Motor Speedway," Gossage said. "There really

seems to be nothing our Operations crew can't do. A lot of time and effort was

put into building the original Tire Monster and the new and improved version as

well. It is a tremendous asset to have this piece of equipment in making our

track race ready."

In the speedway operations department, David Cantwell and Tim Altom took the

crude renderings and came up with a design, which they developed into reality

last year. Cantwell and co-worker David Wilson went to work building the

Monster from scrap metal, pieces of old trailers, a little of this, and a little

of that. The device hit the road prior to the Samsung/RadioShack 500 last year,

laying down rubber on the speedway. But, like all research and development,

there was a better way to be found.

"We had to find a way to make the tires have better wear, make the Monster

transportable, and create a separate transport axle," Cantwell said. "Now, all

12 wheels are on independent suspensions with the exact same weight on each

tire. Each tire has 6 ½ degree toe in and out, and we can adjust each one

individually. That has made the biggest difference in getting better wear on

the tires."

Texas Tire Monster II consists of 12 Goodyear Eagle tires as well as the

separate transport axle and weighs 5,500 pounds. The new version of the Monster

is longer and more narrow and features, as is tradition in motorsports, a rear

hood for decal display. Building the original Tire Monster and the sequel has

been a task of ingenuity and determination for Cantwell and Wilson.

"The whole project has been one of creativity," Cantwell said. "We had to

design and make all the working parts, including the pivots for the shocks, the

tire arms, and we even made an upright band saw out of hand tools so we could

work on the sheet metal."

Texas Tire Monster II will be rolling out on the speedway surface soon to begin

logging some miles and working some fresh rubber into the grooves. But Cantwell

is already thinking about what is next.

"I have an idea of how the third generation and even fourth generation Tire

Monster should look and what we need on it."

With just the final touches to be added, Texas Tire Monster II has work to do

getting the asphalt ready for Texas Motor Speedway's biggest weekend of the

year. The NASCAR Busch Series O'Reilly 300 is Saturday, April 3, followed by

the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Samsung/RadioShack 500 on Sunday, April 4. In

addition, the Texas Motor Speedway will host the Crown Royal IROC Series on

Friday night, April 2.

For ticket information, contact the speedway ticket hotline at 817-215-8500 or

go online to www.texasmotorspeedway.com <http://www.texasmotorspeedway.com>

 

MONSTER:bb:bjc # # #