Goodyear has brought its specially developed rain tire here and NASCAR President Mike Helton said he might let the Winston Cup teams use them during practice today if the conditions are right. Helton said the tires could be used during Sunday’s Sirius at the Glen if it rains. “That’s why we brought them here,” he said. The National Weather Service forecast for today is calling for a 60 percent chance of rain throughout the day. There’s a chance of thunderstorms Sunday. If the track is wet today, the Mohegan Sun 150 NASCAR Busch North Series race, scheduled for 1 p.m., would be canceled. However, “happy hour,” the 45-minute Winston Cup practice session scheduled for 11:10 a.m. today could be run, with the field equipped with rain tires. Goodyear developed a rain tire for Winston Cup a few years ago. Aside from a couple of impromptu tests, including one here, they have never been used in an official session. Winston Cup cars normally run on treadless, slick tires. “We’re ready,” Rick Heinrich, Goodyear’s marketing manager said. “It would take us just a very short period of time to have a set mounted for every team.” The treaded tires, all 1,200 of them, have been sitting in climate-controlled storage at Goodyear headquarters in Akron, Ohio, for a couple of years. The tires, which would be enough to supply the field for Sunday’s race, are in a trailer at Watkins Glen this week. Heinrich said the tread pattern is similar to its aquatread street tire pattern and is designed to pump the water to the edges of the tire as quickly and as efficiently as possible. If the rain tires are used, a single windshield wiper would be installed on the cars, along with a rear brake light.( Elmira Star Gazette )(8-9-2003)
