The Brickyard 400 - Goodyear laid a brick

As you race fans know, Sunday was the famed Brickyard 400 (actually the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard but we all know what the fans call it). It was in my old hometown, Indy, where the Indy 500 is run.

Sunday’s race was a series of 10 lap sprints. Why? Because the Goodyear tires kept wearing down to the cords every 10 -15 laps. So NASCAR instituted a rule that the race would be yellow flagged every 10 laps to allow the racers to come in and get new tires.

In typical NASCAR lockstep, everyone, including the announcers, drivers, and NASCAR officials repeated the mantra that Goodyear was not to blame.

Not to blame? Let’s see, Goodyear produced the tires after testing at the Brickyard, the weather was the normal temp and humidity, there was no difference in the track surface than was anticipated and the tires could not last more than 10 or 15 laps. If Goodyear was not to blame, then who would be? The soft drink vendors? the people who shelled out big money to attend? ESPN who broadcast it? or a fan here in North Carolina who wanted to watch a 400 mile NASCAR race?

I understand that NASCAR is a family and they pull together, but even in my family, if my son doesn’t get his chores done, or I don’t bring the milk home from the store, we hear about it. We get corrected so we do it right the next time.

This was a manifest failure by Goodyear. They would have been much better off to get out in front of this and have a tire expert explain that in trying to get a tire compound that will get the extraordinary grip needed for a NASCAR race, sometimes the rubber gets too soft and that is what happened here.

In the meantime, I’m not buying Goodyear tires.