I could not find a place in "tech", so thought I would post here so that you would see it.

 

I will be needing new slicks here shortly, and am not so sure just what I should be running. I haven't talked to anyone at either Jeg's, or Summit, but I usually don't rely on their tech people anyway.

 

Here is my situation.

 

I have a 1964 Chevelle 2750 lbs. (staged) back halfed Super Pro. 598 cubes, 14:1, cam lift slightly over .700, single 1150 Dominator, glide, 4.56 9-inch. We will be running almost exclusively at Bandimere Speedway. Altitude of 5800 feet, but the effective altitude is usually around 9,000 feet. The track surface is brand new, and the track crew among the best. I am guessing that traction for my situation should not be much of a problem, but I really don't have a clue.

 

Unleashed, this car will run at least 9.4's here at Bandimere, but for a number of reasons, we have chosen to slow the car to run 10.0's, maybe 10.1's. I will be launching fairly soft, and shifting early to keep the numbers legal for not having a license, or all the other stuff needed to go sub 9.99.

 

My question are: which name brand do you recommend and why. What size and why, Which sidewall (soft/stiff) and why, and which compound and why.

 

In case you are scratching your head about all these questions, I never took much interest in all the details before. I would just take the advice of my engine or chassis builder and go with it. Now, I am at a point where costs dictate that I do a lot more of this stuff myself, and I now have time to get involved, so I am trying to come up to speed.

 

Any insight you might be able to offer will be greatly appreciated.

 

Ken Gasbarri

I like the Hoosier radials, they are the most consistant tire I've used. I tried M/T and they were too hard.

Hi Ken,

You have probably seen me on various other message boards and know I am from Colorado as well. I have a friend that lives in Black Forest and races his '69 Camaro RS/SS down at PMP in Pueblo with me. I have been around it since he got it and have driven it a couple of times. This car is similar to yours in engine set-up. He has a 498 BBC, 1050 Dominator, 14:1 CR, Glide and Nitrous. He runs in the high 9's on a small shot. I have never seen or experienced any traction issues in his car and he runs the big Goodyear slicks on it. 33 x 15-16 if I am not mistaken. I personally run 26 x 9.0-15 Hoosiers on mine, but I am not making the big HP you guys are so I run the smaller size. If they are in your budget, you may want to look into either of those tires. I am just not a big M/T tire fan because I think the Hoosiers hook much better. But maybe the Goodyear would be a better tire for the big HP you are making.

Just my .02

Ken,

       Let me ask these questions.

 What brand and size tire are you running right now ?

 What is the largest tire size that you can run ?

Do you ever Pro Tree race ?

Do you use a transbrake ?

Are you happy with the current tire you are running ?

How many runs do you get out of your current tires before they need to be replaced ? Or how long do you go (time wise) before replacing them ? 

 

Tim West

 

 

 

OK;

 

Pappy;

 

I have no experience with Hoosier Radials, but I am looking for slicks. I have heard only good things about Hoosier, and will certainly consider their slicks when I get around to buying tires.

 

Junkyard;

 

Yep, I've seen you on other forums, and at the track. Love that car. Way back in 1980, I bought a Vega hatchback with no motor or tranny. Bought the subframe kit, wheel tubs, and other sheet metal. Wanted to build it with my StepSon, but he wanted me to do all the work, and he just wanted to be "Kool". Even had a school bus I was trying to make into  what is now called a toy hauler. Oh well. He is a beach bum over in Hawaii now (where I met his Mom), and he's willing to take our present car when we are too old to race, but of course, we have to ship it and the trailer to him. Ha!!

 

Tim;

 

We are presently running Goodyear stiff wall 32x15x15 with a medium compound. (I think it is medium) They changed the part numbers since. Anyway, the tires are 5 years old, but only have maybe 25 passes total on them. We have had a little bit of bad luck with engines, mixed in with a healthy dose of STUPID, resulting in missing one complete season, and having less than 5 passes each for three other seasons, plus one season we just couldn't keep a tranny in the car for more than three passes. Kept breaking cases.

 

The car originally had Goodyear 33x16x15 softwall and the next to softess compound when we first  put it together. I was never able to get past basic engine and/or tranny problems to make any serious power, but we didn't seem to have a traction problem at Bandimere. I use to have problems in the right lane at PMP for some reason. The car tried to turn hard right. If I was expecting it I could counter, but we didn't get down there often, and when we did, first pass in the right lane put the thrill back into a 9 second pass. I also had traction problems at Julesburg, but I think that was more track related, or should I say my inability to adapt to the track than a tire issue.

 

We do run a tranny brake.

 

As for your other questions, I really don't have enough experience with the present tires to make any valid judgement on them. I don't think they have caused me any problems, but then again, I haven't pushed them very hard either.

 

The present Goodyear 32x15x15 stiff walls still have a lot of tread left, but I have had a number of people tell me I will be having problems with them because of age.

 

I have also had a few people tell me as long as the sidewalls aren't cracked, they should be good. The sidewalls are not cracked and the tires look and feel fine.

 

My private "Monster under the bed" is having a slick blow at the fast end of the track. Anything else, I feel I can handle. I know if it starts to get squirrellly, the race is over, and I shut it down. I don't try to salvage something out of a bad launch I ain't nowhere near that good.

 

I really don't have the money to throw at new slicks if I don't need them, and now that I have the engine and tranny problems behind me, I really want to have a full season this year, so I need to get this tire thing right.

 

Maybe I can do a little "Night business" down on East Colfax, but I would attract all those silly long legged blondes, and they are just soooo shallow.

 

What ever your thoughts are, I can certainly use some mentoring.

 

Ken Gasbarri

I have 32 x14 x14 Mickeys under my Monza that runs low 10's and have had good hook even tho their a couple of years old now, I have run all brands over the years and found the most consistant hook with goodyear on a light car and firestone on my heaviest one, but the 2500lb to 3200 lbs seem to work good with either hoosiers or mickey's,   I always ran a medium to prolong the life span   many are running Pheonix  { old M&H } tires with good results too.  I have run denver many times with my s/st 55 chevy and firestones and my digger in s/c on goodyears with no traction problems, maybe too much with the 55 as i broke the unbreakable rear as I was told, lol

Ken...... Our setups are pretty much the same.  I run 14X32 Goodyears D5 compound with gr8 results.

Hi ken
welcome to the site . I run the Hoosiers on our 69 Charger blown alky car,, 1600 hp
 they work great , never had a problem, I,m also a crew member for LSS Racing Top Alcohol Dragster driven by Ed Shmeekle we run a set of hoosier and a set of goodyears, ,, the goodyears seem to hook better on the cooler tracks, but the hoosiers seem to have no prefrence. they hook on just about anything

Mel Z from AZ

Well gentlemen, I do appreciate all the good input. I got my eye on a set of Hoosiers at Performance tire. The man tells me they are used, but other than being a little dusty, I can't see where these tires have ever been in a water box, or on the launch pad. Might have been down to get teched, but I just can't see any wear at all. Anyway, he wants $100.00 a piece for them. I am thinking of going back and taking another look. If they still look as good as I thought they did, I will buy them. At that price, I can't hardly go wrong.

 

Anyway, I need to make a couple more passes on the tires I got to see how they work in the kinder, gentler world of 10 seconds and slower.

 

Again, thanks for all good advice.

 

Ken Gasbarri

The prob with buying used slick is that you can't tell what they were previously used for.

If they came off of a high horse low number car they may look peachy but have the side walls broken  down.

I like Phoenix and Goodyear both,although I feel the Phoenix tend to hook good longer.

 A guy gave me a set of used 9" Phoenix' that had no wear marks left and I put 'em on my car just for giggles and by the end of the seventh pass they had cord showing in both tires and were still doin' 1.29 short times launching at 5500 in a stick car running 11.0's. 

I prolly would buy Phoenix all the time but they don't sell 'em in OKC anymore and I don't do mail order slicks 'cause I don't trust 'em to have equal roll out and the Goodyear guy at Carter Maxwell always gets me matched sets while I watch,which consequently makes me a  Goodyear guy for the most part.

I normally run 33x16.5 Hoosier DO5 compound on my car, its the socftest compound they make. But thats mainly because i like doing big wheelies, haha. Last year we slowed the car down to the low 10sec range mainly because we had 1100 runs on our hardware and didnt have any type of oil retention device yet. Also Toyo was having their Drag Racer Special deal going on. I can say that on our car the Toyo lasted forever compared to the DO5 Hoosier mainly because the Toyo is such a harder compound. If your looking for a tire thats gonna last you and is fairly cheap toyo's are decent. Although i tried to hook the toyo's up wide open they didnt hook worth crap under a 3100lb car. Well at least compared to the Hoosier's. But in my opinion the best tire ive ever ran was the Hoosier DO5 compound. They may be a little expednsive and they may not last as long but they definitally hook everytime.