NickHolt Posted January 8, 2003 Report Share Posted January 8, 2003 From the ROMCO 2003 rules: "Tires to be American Racer EC84 26.5/10.00-15 or EC84 27.0/10.00-15 and "ROMCO" plated or any other make or compound designated by the series. " American Racer bought out McCreary Racing Tires a while back. The EC84's have been raced successfully in Texas before Hoosiers became the tire of choice. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Correct me if i am wrong, but wasnt there a reliability issue with the McCrearys? I always thought the Hoosier was a better tire, but i could be wrong. Big John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Maybe the extra money they are pumping into the purse will offset that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted January 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Big John, A few years ago, when I was Chief Steward at SAS, we (some SAE engineers including Larrry Bendele and me) ran side-by-side (same-day, same cars, same drivers) comparison tests of the McCreary EC84 and the Hoosier. Goodyear was invited, but failed to show up for the tests. The Hoosier won hands down -- better tread wear, faster lap times and the drivers all liked it better. The results of that tire test were published in Short Track Racing Magazine. I have not heard of any particular reliability problems with the McCreary on short tracks, but I bet ROMCO will not run those McCrearys at TMS. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ups88john Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Believe it or not Nick, i still have a copy of that magazine somewhere. You and Larry were spring chickens back then lol. I remember the McCreary used to blister alot, but may have been because of one tire a week rule at sas. Big John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted January 9, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Big John, Actually, the only tires we ran at SAS under the one-tire-per-week rule were the Hoosiers. We conducted the tire test because I was going to implement the one-tire rule the following season and wanted to be sure we had the best possible tire for such a rule. The tests were conducted in October of 1993 and we began the one-tire rule in the 1994 season. By the way, the tire test story appeared in the February, 1994, issue of Short Track Racing. Over the years I've run Firestones, Goodyears, McCrearys and Hoosiers. My favorites were the Firestones from the late 70's and early 80's. They were lightning fast and perfect for Late Model racing. Goodyears are my next favorite, then the Hoosiers. The McCrearys had a tendency to blister if you weren't careful, but they were also the least expensive. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97car Posted January 9, 2003 Report Share Posted January 9, 2003 Go to the EC82s if you want a hard tire to last,I remember hearing the cars sqeal in the corners back then,but I remember the All-Pro cars not sqealing and going a lot faster on Goodyears back then,such as Gary Baloughs time of 18.112 with a automatic that blew up in the race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted January 15, 2003 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2003 97car, I was the suspension guy on Rick Rapp's car back when Gary Balough was running All-Pro at SAS. There were strong indications that Mr. Balough was running a mercury-based weight-transfer system in his car in those days. With the mercury all shifted to the left side you could get up to 71% left side weight for the race, shift the mercury back to the right side for post race inspection to get back to the 58%. One major drawback was that if you ever had to turn sharply to the right (like to avoid a spin in front of you) you would roll the car since there was no right side weight to hold the car down. I watched Balough's car VERY closely whenever they showed up at SAS to race back then. One race I saw him stop up in turn 1-2 on the pace lap. I have always believed that he did that to open a valve get the mercury to drain to the left side of the system because his hidden pump had failed. No proof, of course. Just my long-held belief. As I recall, later that same season it was rumored that he had been caught with a mercury weight-transfer system in his car. Again, no proof, just a rumor. About the same time another All-Pro driver (can't remember who) got upside down in a wreck somewhere and all the mercury poured out onto the track. This could have been a real nightmare had the car caught fire and produced mercury fumes for everyone to breathe. Since then we haven't heard much about heavy metal left side weight. But you're right about the Goodyears being a whole lot faster than the McCrearys. But the Firestones were even faster than the Goodyears, at least without mercury weight transfer systems in place. Unfortunately Firestone got out of the race tire business in the late 70's. Nick Holt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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