LONG POND, Pa. — A bigger tire could be in NASCAR’s future.
In the wake of last week’s tire controversy at Indianapolis, where some of its tires failed, Goodyear is looking ahead to a tire that could work better with NASCAR’s new Car of Tomorrow, a bigger, heavier vehicle than the previous models used in Sprint Cup.
“We had some discussion about a larger tire . . . several years ago with NASCAR when we started this whole discussion about the Car of Tomorrow,” said Stu Grant, general manager of worldwide racing for Goodyear, the exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR’s top three professional series. “But, obviously, we’ve been working with the current size on the Car of Tomorrow. This spring, we decided to ramp that (new) program up.”
Grant said there would be several differences from the current tire.
“We are working on a larger contain-air volume, a bigger section width, taller tire, larger bead diameter,” he said. “Right now, it’s all modeling. We’re trying to figure out what the right size would be.”
The problems at Indy, where right-side tires, and particularly right rears, were wearing out much too fast, was completely different than at Atlanta, where Goodyear also had a disastrous race in March. In that race, drivers complained bitterly about the rubber compound, saying the tire was unfit for driving.
Fellows beats elements
MONTREAL — Canadian road-racer Ron Fellows splashed his way to victory Saturday in the first NASCAR points event run on grooved rain tires, winning when heavy rain and poor visibility forced officials to end the Nationwide Series race 26 laps early.
The 48-year-old Ontario driver, a four-time winner in series road-course events, took advantage of Marcos Ambrose’s pit-road speeding penalty to take the lead and had a 33-second advantage over fellow Canadian Patrick Carpentier when the NAPA Auto Parts 200 was red-flagged and then called a few minutes later.
“There’s so much water that you can’t see,” Fellows said minutes before the race was called. “Now, with the heavy rain, it’s very dangerous.”
Ambrose finished third after leading a race-high 27 laps. Ron Hornaday was fourth.
Hamliton on F1 pole
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Lewis Hamilton took a big step toward winning his third straight Formula One race by claiming the pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The McLaren driver set a fastest lap of 1 minute, 20.899 seconds for his 10th career pole. Hamilton was more than two-tenths of a second faster than teammate Heikki Kovalainen to give McLaren a 1-2 front row for today’s race.
Ferrari’s Felipe Massa will start third, ahead of Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber.
The Associated Press
Today’s races
NASCAR SPRINT CUP
Pennsylvania 500
Site: Long Pond, Pa.
TV: ESPN, 11 a.m.
Track: Pocono International Raceway (triangular oval, 2.5 miles, 14 degrees banking in turn 1, 8 degrees in turn 2, 6 degrees in turn 3).
Race distance: 500 miles, 200 laps.
Next race: Centurion Boats At The Glen, Aug. 10, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
On the Net: www.nascar.com
FORMULA ONE
Hungarian Grand Prix
Site: Budapest.
TV: Speed Channel, 5:30 a.m.
Track: Hungaroring (road course, 2.465 miles).
Race distance: 172.55 miles, 70 laps.
Next race: Mediterranean Grand Prix, Aug. 24, Valencia, Spain.
On the Net: www.formula1.com
