Goodyear sportsman drag tire a winner

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Sept. 2, 2003) -- Goodyear's new D6575 rear drive tire for the Stock Eliminator class is drawing rave reviews from the drivers using it.

The tire is a new addition to Goodyear's drag racing lineup but it has already won some races. Al Corda, the veteran from Elk Mound, Wisc., won the Stock Eliminator, A Fuel Injected category victory at the MAC Tools U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park using the D6575.

The conclusion of the Indianapolis event was delayed a week by a series of storms that lashed the central Indiana area. The event is scheduled to conclude Sept. 5-7. But before the rain washed out the final parts of the race, Corda and his late model Pontiac Trans Am showed the drag racing world how good the new Goodyear tire is.

"This tire is especially good in the A Fuel Injected category because the weight (of the vehicle) is only 2,900 pounds," Corda said. "You don't carry much ballast in the trunk. This tire is the best thing you could get."

The D6575 measures 30X9-15 and has a 93.5-inch rollout. It is especially effective for high horsepower cars. Corda raced the tire to victory in the NHRA national event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when the tire was still under development late last season.

"Even in the heat of the day, it still has lots of traction," Corda said. "The other nice thing is that it doesn't take much of a burnout, so its life is longer. It has a Pro Stock type of compound.

The D6575 has the D2B tread compound and was designed with much of the same technology that Goodyear puts into the tires used in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Corda estimated he could get as many as 65 or 70 competitive runs on a set of the tires.

Corda said his 60-foot times at Indy were remarkably consistent. He reached the 60-foot mark between 1.305 and 1.308 seconds on his last three runs of the U.S. Nationals.

A resident of Eau Claire, Wisc., Corda owns Rock Falls Raceway near Minneapolis.

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