Goodyear revved up for 75th NASCAR season

AKRON—Long before the green flag ushers in the 75th season of NASCAR, Goodyear sorted out the logistics behind building and supplying more than 100,000 race tires for 94 NASCAR events this year.

In addition to building, pre-mounting and delivering the tires, Goodyear staffs each event with a dedicated support team.

Goodyear will supply tires for 38 Cup Series events, 33 Xfinity Series events and 23 Craftsman Truck Series events.

The Akron-based tire maker turns 125 years old this year and is entering its 69th year with NASCAR, where it has been the sole tire supplier since 1997.

"It's a responsibility that we take very seriously, and we demonstrate that from everyone within the racing organization that touches it and feels it every day—to the guys on the factory floor all the way to our chairman," Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales and marketing at Goodyear, said.

The process starts with tire development and planning for how Goodyear's 18-inch rim diameter Eagle race tires may be "tuned" for a particular track.

"We all have to agree on what's the recommendation, what's the tire choice to bring into the racetrack," Stucker said. "We have to integrate that into our production plan, and we make a lot of other race tires."

The tires are built at the Goodyear Innovation Center in Akron and held in a warehouse. About three weeks ahead of an event, they are sent to Goodyear's Cornelius, N.C., facility to be pre-mounted. Goodyear pre-mounts about 75 percent of tires for races.

"We will mount as many wheels as the teams make available to us. The major teams have a full allotment of wheels to cycle through every event," Stucker said. "While wheels and tires are at one event, we are pre-mounting for the next event."

For the race, Goodyear delivers tires while staffing each event with a dedicated team offering engineering support, sales and logistics, and tire service.

While it depends on the race, Stucker said, around 2,500 tires are used per Cup event, 1,000 per Xfinity event and 800 per Truck event.

"Then we pack our bags, move on to the next event and do it all again," Stucker said.

Goodyear leases the tires to race teams and takes them back after the event.

"Anytime we want to bring them back (to study), we can, particularly if you have a new product for an event, but most of the time they are dismounted and recycled through the state of North Carolina," he said.

Last season, NASCAR launched its Next Gen car with new 18-inch Goodyear Eagle tires. The previous cars ran on 15-inch Eagles.

"If you look at Next Gen as a whole, I think everyone has to be extremely proud of the racing that was put on (last season). It was close, very exciting racing on the track," Stucker said.

The Next Gen was a redesign from the ground up, and the same was also true of the tire, he said.

"Obviously from a materials perspective, we have a lot of history. But this was the first time that an 18-inch tire was ever put into racing in those kind of conditions with a heavy vehicle, and to sustain loads and speeds that you see in oval racing," Stucker said. "We've done it for years. Others have also, in road racing, but not in oval applications."

Goodyear built flexibility into its production schedule last year to adjust to changes to the new car, especially once it was in the hands of the race teams.

"There were certainly no wholesale changes (to the tire), but we tuned our construction a little bit, particularly for the intermediate speedways to finish the season," he said.

Goodyear also worked closely with race teams to help them understand what can and can't be done on 18-inch tires.

"Just as important as developing the tire and having it ready to go, is the education with the teams and making sure we're providing them all of the data on the new 18-inch tire to make good set-up decisions."

The NASCAR Cup Series kicks off Feb. 5 with the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum in Los Angeles. The Daytona 500 is Feb. 19.

Goodyear is title sponsor of the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway on May 14.

The NASCAR Cup Series has two new locations this season. The All-Star Race will be held at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway on May 21, and the Chicago Street Race will be held July 1-2.

Stucker called Wilkesboro, where NASCAR raced more than 30 years ago, an iconic track because of its design, where "you run downhill on the front stretch and you run uphill on the back stretch."

The engineering team, he said, always is conservative when spec'ing tires to race on a new track.

Chicago, he said, offers a unique challenge since the race will be on the city streets.

"We've never run NASCAR on a street surface," Stucker said. "You can't test (on the track). We'll do a lot of simulation work to understand speeds."

The team at Goodyear, he said, takes a lot of pride in working with NASCAR and is excited for the upcoming season.

"The exciting competition should continue this season, especially after teams have now had a full off season with the cars," he added.

Late last year, Goodyear reached an agreement to remain the "official tire of NASCAR" and supply the Cup Series, the Xfinity Series and the Craftsman Truck Series.

"Goodyear has been a trusted partner to the NASCAR industry since 1954, playing a critical role in our shared pursuit to deliver the best racing in the world. Our continued partnership will allow us to push boundaries and innovate our racing product for generations to come," NASCAR president Steve Phelps said last year.

The length and financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"From our manufacturing plants to offices around the world, racing is ingrained in our culture, and the importance of our relationship with NASCAR is reflected in the quality, performance and engineering we put into every Goodyear Eagle race tire," Goodyear Chairman, President and CEO Richard Kramer said.

"Our performance on the race track plays an active role in the success of the sport and inspires the development of our consumer tires, fueling our commitment to take performance and innovation to the next level."