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Goodyear Tire Gatornationals Fast Facts

GOODYEAR FAST FACTS FOR THE MAC TOOLS GATORNATIONALS GAINESVILLE RACEWAY — QUARTER-MILE DRAGSTRIP GAINESVILLE, FLA., FEB. 16-19, 2000 NOTES AND QUOTES: The National Hot Rod Association brings round three of the Winston Drag Racing series ...

GOODYEAR FAST FACTS FOR THE MAC TOOLS GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE RACEWAY — QUARTER-MILE DRAGSTRIP
GAINESVILLE, FLA., FEB. 16-19, 2000

NOTES AND QUOTES:

The National Hot Rod Association brings round three of the Winston Drag Racing series to Gainesville Raceway for the 31st annual Mac Tools Gatornationals. More than 400 racers will compete for 12 titles in a wide variety of racing machinery designed to do one thing: travel the quarter-mile as fast as you can.

Goodyear is easily the tire of choice in the four of the five Winston Pro categories: Top Fuel dragster, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Truck.

Goodyear has won every NHRA Winston event dating back to the 1992 Sears Point meet. That's a string of 149 consecutive NHRA meets, including the first two meets of 2000, that Goodyear has won in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock.

Goodyear will be represented in the two Federal-Mogul and five Sportsman classes competing at Gainesville. Those include the Federal-Mogul Dragster, Federal-Mogul Funny Car, Competition, Super Stock, Stock, Super Comp and Super Gas. The Super Street cars will not compete at Gainesville.

With 10 event wins in the first two meets, Goodyear is the leading tire manufacturer in NHRA competition. The company takes an average of 500 tires to each NHRA National -- 250 for the Winston Pro competitors and 250 for the Sportsman categories.

At the Autozone Nationals in Pomona, Calif., Goodyear collected wins in Top Fuel (Gary Scelzi), Funny Car (Jerry Toliver), Pro Stock (Jeg Coughlin Jr.), Pro Stock Truck (Bob Panella Jr.), Comp (Bryan Morrison) and Stock (Don Little). Three weeks later at the Checker/Schuck's/Kragen Nationals in Phoenix, Ariz., Goodyear Eagles were the tires of choice in Top Fuel (Tony Schumacher), Funny Car (John Force), Pro Stock (Coughlin Jr.) and Comp (David Myers).

Front tire inflation pressures in all classes is consistent at 40 PSI. Drive tire inflation pressure varies by class. Listed below are the general inflation pressure guidelines by class. <pre> Class Drive Tires Top Fuel / Funny Car 5 PSI Pro Stock 5 PSI Pro Stock Truck 6 PSI FM Dragster / Funny Car 5 PSI Comp 4-8 PSI Super Gas / Super Comp 5-9 PSI Super Stock / Stock 6-14 PSI Stock Radial 16-22 PSI </pre> It is interesting to note that after a burnout and a quarter-mile run, the rear tire pressure only increases about 2 PSI.

Goodyear has initiated a very aggressive drag racing development program for the 2000 season. "We are currently evaluating development tires in a number of classes," said Perry Bell, Goodyear operations manager, drag racing. "Goodyear has completed it transfer of production to our Santiago, Chile, plant and we are now concentrating on additional performance improvements with the Goodyear Eagle Dragway Special tire line. We have distributed a number of Pro Stock development tires for evaluation. We are starting to receive feed back on these evaluations. After analysis of the data we plan to introduce a new improved Pro Stock tire.

The drive tires used in the two Dragster and Funny Car divisions, commonly referred to as "Big Mo" at Goodyear, are still built at the Akron, Ohio, production facility. The Pro Stock and Sportsman tires are produced at Goodyear's Santiago, Chile, plant.

"We held a Super Gas test at Phoenix on February 28 following the Phoenix event. The results of the test were very encouraging and we plan to introduce a new Super Gas tire in the near future." Bell added that Goodyear has also distributed a number of Federal-Mogul Funny Car and Dragster development tires for evaluation by several teams and a tire test is scheduled following the Gatornationals.

John Force hopes to move one step closer to becoming the all-time NHRA career win leader. His victory in Phoenix gave him 82 titles, all on Goodyear and just three shy of Bob Glidden's 85 career wins, a mark that many thought was unobtainable just a few short years ago.

Coughlin is looking for his fourth straight NHRA victory in Gainesville, a run that dates back to the 1999 Auto Club Finals in Pomona. Coughlin currently sits in the No. 1 spot in the Winston Pro Stock championship points standings with 233 points and is leading his closest competitor, Warren Johnson, by 87 points.

Gainesville Raceway is the home of the sport's first 300-mph run, and 1999 was even faster. Last season's Gatornationals saw Tony Pedregon's 4.779, the quickest elapsed time in NHRA history for a Funny Car; John Force's pair of 324.05-mph runs that continue to stand as the national speed record in Funny Car; and Warren Johnson's record 6.866, 201.37 from his GM Goodwrench Pontiac Firebird.

Goodyear racers Mike Dunn (TF), Force (FC), Johnson (PS) and Mark Osborne (PST) are the defending event Winston Pro winners of the $1.9 million event, the third of 23 events in the $45 million NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.

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