From David Sink
Salem, IN — (July 14, 2015) — It’s been no secret that winged pavement sprint car racing has been struggling from coast-to-coast of late. Must See Racing Sprint Series president Jim Hanks has also taken notice and today made a major announcement that could be the first step in getting all winged pavement sprint car clubs to work together.
Must See Racing will experiment with an open tire rule at its next event August 8 at Salem (IN) Speedway. Teams from other winged pavement sprint car series wishing to compete in this event will be allowed to compete with their series official tire.
This is a bold move by Hanks to allow other tires to compete in the Must See Racing Sprint Series. Hanks realize it is necessary to get teams to cross-over and run multiple series to strengthen car counts across the country. Must See Racing has taken the first step to work alongside other series in an effort to get car counts back to where they need to be.
Must See Racing utilizes the American Racer brand tire. Teams wishing to compete using the Hoosier Racing Tire brand will now be allowed on August 8th. Officials will make a decision about the future after this event. If a team elects to use another brand, they must use the same compound used in their series. In addition, they must have the same brand on all four corners. The same right rear tire used for qualifying must be used in the feature.This move is seen as positive and is hoped it will attrach cars from other series without forcing them to purchase tires.
“The abundance of tire opinions is difficult to comprehend sometimes. We live in a time and place where we can find just about any piece of information or opinion on the internet or social media in just a few clicks of a button. The ability to depend on objective news or reporting to get accurate information is long gone with reported information more and more biased or influenced for personal or financial gain. An open tire rule certainly can eliminate the biased talk and should be attractive to other race series and race teams allowing competition on tires that they are familiar with, have in stock and work best for them. Hopefully, this open tire invitation will help eliminate any barrier to inter series competition and improve event car counts.” said MSR president Jim Hanks.
It is hoped that other series will take notice to what Must See Racing has done and follow suit in an effort to strengthen car counts. It is possible Must See Racing may be the only winged pavement series to experiment with an open tire policy since the majority of series across the country rely heavily on tire sales for survival. In addition, tire manufactures may frown on such a move as they have invested heavily for exclusive rights in a majority of these series. None-the-less, the move is seen as the first step towards unifying winged pavement sprint car racing and getting all the series working together.
The August 8, 56th annual Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial may arguably be the biggest race of the year for the Must See Racing Sprint Series. Some of the biggest names in the sport have previously won this event including: AJ Foyt, Mario Andretti, Bobby Unser, Tony Stewart, Pancho Carter, Rich Vogler, and Kenny Irwin Jr., and recent winners Troy DeCaire, JoJo Helberg, Brian Olson and Brian Gerster, among others.