No More Goodyear Race Tires?

Just caught this over at LocostUSA forums:

geek49203 said: News tip from Glen at Brunton -- Goodyear has discontinued most of its racing tire line. It has gone from 156 SKU's to 30, eliminating the tires that the Stalker crowd was using. Looking at some SCCA forums, etc, it seems that most of what people use in autocross and amateur classes are gone. FSAE is likewise hosed (technical term there) as is World of Outlaws. Glen said that they're using Avon now -- and I thought those only went on vintage F1 cars or something?

Yep, I saw it elsewhere as well. GY is leaving everything but NASCAR.

Time for Hoosier and American Racer to step up

And Mickey Thompson

I'm waiting for my Mashimoto ZX race tires to come in

They were "no more" for me this past season when they wouldnt fill an order for tires for me from their catalog. It seems a seasons worth for a single racer just wasnt worth their time, and apparently removing tires from the catalog they had no intention of making was not worth their time either. I didnt even ask what they might want for these tires, apparently made from unobtainium.

Soft compound Hancooks worked pretty well for me in '12 and Hoosiers are on my list for the 2013 season.

So have they just killed the R comps, or have they ditched roadrace slicks as well?

They must still be building dragrace slicks.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

All of the above. No R-comps, no road race tires, no sportsman drag slicks/radials . Just roundy-round and NHRA Pro-Class slick skews are all that's left in stock.

Local SCCA guys are screaming for blood across all classes.

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: I'm waiting for my Mashimoto ZX race tires to come in

Me too, 3 black civics with green neons were last seen stealing them from 18-wheelers.

Weird. Didn't Goodyear come out with a DOT competitor for the A6 last year? Keisel (bright green Bugeye in E-Mod) must be fuming...

Javelin wrote: In reply to Streetwiseguy: All of the above. No R-comps, no road race tires, no sportsman drag slicks/radials . Just roundy-round and NHRA Pro-Class slick skews are all that's left in stock. Local SCCA guys are screaming for blood across all classes.

so SRF drivers will have to find another spec tire ....

Ian F wrote: Weird. Didn't Goodyear come out with a DOT competitor for the A6 last year? Keisel (bright green Bugeye in E-Mod) must be fuming...

Yup, he broke the news on the SCCA Forums.

This includes their vintage race tires?

In reply to bravenrace:

We don't know right now. All that's been confirmed is the ~180 SKU's for their race tires have been reduced to ~30-35, and the reduced ones are out of stock and no longer being produced. Goodyear hasn't said a peep yet. Basically what we have are individual race drivers (like Kiesel) coming out and saying their size is NLA and kaput. So far, that looks to be about everybody but NASCAR/Oval guys, and the Pro-level NHRA stuff. So, yeah, I'd assume the vintage stuff got toasted, too.

I used to have avon summer tires, I loved them! too bad they aren't in the states anymore :(

Goodyear said nothing on their web site.

I'll be interested in this. R tires are not a big deal, really, for anybody. Its a pretty competitive market out there, and I think probably Goodyear decided it wasn't worth the investment. I raced on the RS for a couple of years, but I'll go back to Toyos or Hoosiers with no problem.

Stock car- We are one of the only tracks around that runs Goodyears stock car slicks. Everywhere we travel, we run on Hoosiers. I can see Goodyear sticking with late model tires, though, considering how many a guy goes through in a season. Even though they are pretty cheap, a guy buys a lot of them, so they may still be profitable. The very odd thing about them is this: They are built in Medicine Hat, Alberta, which is about 4 hours down the road from us, but they have to be ordered from, and shipped from, Akron Ohio.

why the berkeley would they do this? Those tires were all "premium priced". I would think they were making good money off all the tires you are talking about them cutting. Weren't most of the tires made in the US too? that would make them protected somewhat because of the import taxes...

Wow! I'm really surprised to hear this.

Does anyone have any credible links to information on this? I searched, albeit for only a couple minutes, but the only thing I found was this thread. Until Goodyear makes an announcement, which I assume they haven't, this is all hearsay.

bravenrace wrote: Does anyone have any credible links to information on this? I searched, albeit for only a couple minutes, but the only thing I found was this thread. Until Goodyear makes an announcement, which I assume they haven't, this is all hearsay.

Hearsay my ass, get it straight from the horse's mouth:

http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/forumid/18/threadid/439748/scope/posts

In case you don't know, Kiesel drives the Lime Green bugeye rotary that was in GRM and won a ton of Nationals, including 2012. His main sponsor is Goodyear, including logos all over the car.

Javelin wrote:

bravenrace wrote: Does anyone have any credible links to information on this? I searched, albeit for only a couple minutes, but the only thing I found was this thread. Until Goodyear makes an announcement, which I assume they haven't, this is all hearsay.

Hearsay my ass, get it straight from the horse's mouth: http://www.sccaforums.com/forums/forumid/18/threadid/439748/scope/posts In case you don't know, Kiesel drives the Lime Green bugeye rotary that was in GRM and won a ton of Nationals, including 2012. His main sponsor is Goodyear, including logos all over the car.

I just asked a question, dude. Off your meds again?

In reply to bravenrace:

No, I do not take meds. And those kinds of comments are why you earn responses like mine. I'm sorry I was not nicer in my reply to you, that was not my intention. I was frustrated that you stated we were all hear-sayers. I apologize.

Javelin wrote: In reply to bravenrace: ...And those kinds of comments are why you earn responses like mine.

Um, you made your comment before mine, not after it.
And seriously, if someone posts news about a company and there's no actual communication from the company, then essentially it is hearsay. I saw no official word from Goodyear about this here or anywhere on the net. I called two friends that work for Goodyear here in Akron and they knew nothing about it either. After that it seemed like a valid question that didn't deserve the response it got from you.

In reply to bravenrace:

I wouldn't expect Goodyear to announce it, personally. I'm sorry that you feel one of the most heavily-sponsored Goodyear racers is not a quality source of information, either. I know it's not what you're looking for, but the dozens of racers being told that their tires are discontinued and finding that the SKU (that would be the bar code and unique identifier # for each tire) is no longer in the catalog is pretty solid evidence. If nobody can buy the item, and it's not in the catalog, then it's discontinued.

I explained my original remark in the private email.