RACE: Goodyeaar fast facts for teh Valvoline Runoffs

NOTES AND QUOTES:

* The Sports Car Club of America gives its amateur racers their week in the sun during the Valvoline Runoffs at Mid-Ohio. A week of practice and qualifying concludes with 24 races, each determining the national champion in each class. SCCA National Racing features a wide variety of cars, including six open-wheel formula car divisions, four full-bodied sports racer groups, four production automobile categories, five classes for GT machines and five races for street stock cars (American Sedan, Showroom Stock and Touring).

* Goodyear will supply 3,000 tires at the Valvoline Runoffs for drivers in 23 classes. Eighteen races feature Goodyear Eagle racing tires, while the five street stock categories will see Goodyear Eagle DOT street tires shaved for racing (Goodyear does not supply tires in the Spec Racer Ford series). Goodyear will go head-to-head against several other tire manufacturers in several divisions in one of the premier showcases for racing tire technology.

* Goodyear's road racing engineers have spent much of the 2000 season testing new tires in a number of racing divisions. "Quite honestly, we were not happy with the performance of some of our tires, particularly the rain tires," said Chris Johenning, Goodyear lead engineer in road racing. "Goodyear has extensively upgraded and modified its line of customer road racing tires in the past two years. We are constantly re-evaluating and testing tires and plan to have several new tires available this week."

One of the benefits of testing was that Goodyear engineers discovered that some race tires would benefit more than one car. "We found that the S2 sports racers obtained a significant performance gain by using the same tires developed for Formula Mazda," Johenning relates.

"By developing the new tires, Goodyear is also working hard to let racers know that we are committed to sports car racing on all levels, from the Grand American Sports Racers and the GM Goodwrench Corvettes to the club racer," Johenning adds. "We now have a superior product in Formula Atlantic, Formula Vee and other categories where we lost in the past few years and our effort should pay off with in the winners circle."

* Goodyear has paid special attention to rain tire performance this year. New rain tires will be available at Mid-Ohio for competitors in GT4; F-, G- and H-Production; American Sedan and C-Sports Racing; and Formulae Vee, 500, Mazda, Continental and Ford.

* Goodyear-shod cars won 10 races in the last major competition at Mid-Ohio in June, more than any tire manufacturer. Goodyear Eagles dominated several of the open-wheel categories, winning in Formula Continental, Formula Ford and Formula Mazda. "Those results showed that we are moving in the right direction in tire performance for our road racing customers, but we can't stop there," Johenning said. "Goodyear is targeting other divisions for new tires. The results from the Runoffs will go a long way to determining our testing program for this winter and next year."

* Catch up on all the latest information from Goodyear Racing on our website, www.racegoodyear.com. The site covers NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch Grand National and Craftsman Truck series; NHRA and IHRA drag racing, Pennzoil World of Outlaws, major sports car competition and numerous weekly short track stock car programs in the United States and Canada.