By Shawn Brouse
Port Royal/Abbottstown – After working in tandem for the last several months, Port Royal and Lincoln Speedways have reached an agreement with Hoosier Racing Tire to be the exclusive sprint car tire supplier of the ovals beginning in 2013.
The agreement will see Hoosier be the official sprint car tires of the prominent Central Pa Saturday night speedplants through the 2017 season.
Promoters at both speedways see the decision to contract with Hoosier as the best possible outcome they could have achieved.
“We talked to the drivers and car owners and tried to make the decision that best pleased the majority of the voices,” Port Royal promoter Steve O’Neal says of the work that he and Lincoln leaders Don and Bob Leiby and Alan Kreitzer have done over the last eight to 10 weeks.
Lincoln Speedway recently hosted tire testing sessions aimed at helping to define the direction that both tracks would take regarding this decision.
“A lot of research and effort has been put into making this decision. We do not take making this decision lightly,” says Lincoln’s Don Leiby.
“I think that this is the best move that we could make to best benefit the competitors that race with us.”
Both tracks intend to utilize the same Hoosier tires for both the 410 Sprints and the 358 Sprints, whenever they compete at the ovals.
The five-year deal stipulates that Hoosier brand tires will be required on all four corners of the 410 sprint cars at both speedways for the duration of the contract.
Having worked well with Hoosier in the past, expectations are high by both tracks that the same working relationship will continue with Hoosier under this new agreement.