My dad was the Racing tire guy at Bruces tire from the late 40s and for 25 years after. Even once they quit building the slicks, they were a dealer for many brands and types of racing tire, mostly goodyear. He had many connectoons, Garlits, Kalitta , Tommy Grove, Emery Cook. The list is long, after he passed away i remember going through his rolodex... it was amazing. He had many stories, one in particular i wiil disclose. His tires had a stamping on the sidewall it was a plate that was inserted into the mold. It read LTX that told theworld it was a Bruces Tire. A DOT code in fact. There were guys out there paying good money to get these guys to run their tires, dad couldnt do that. He would give alot of guys tires, many oit of his own pocket, but some guys, one well known dragster builder and driver were taking my dads free tires, and the other guys money at the same time. Then painting in big white letters the 'other guys' initials on the sidewall. Cause well my dads tires worked better. And you could run the car without getting your teeth shook out. Dad was a craftsman. Anyway my dad didnt go for that. So this happened at a large california meet in the late 50's. Dad 'his name was Jack Dill' saw his tires with another companies initials on them, got pissed off, and casually told the guy what pressures etc would work best in the heat etc. and strolled off to watch eliminations. This racer knowing my dads good reputation did what he said, and was promptly loading his rail on the trailer, after going up in smoke. My folks sat in the stands laughing their heads off. Dad told that story many times, ill withold the names of the parties involved but they were big names. Anyway I love these stories, ill tell another soon.
1955 The roadster relocated to South Los Angeles, to the auto sales lot, body/paint shop, and muffler shop at 84th and Figueroa Streets run by Tony and Pat Berardini. 1954 Hello, In a research project in my files, one of the earliest mentions of drag racing slicks is from the Berardini Brothers in South Central Los Angeles in 1954-55. Since then, photos and stories were mentioning an abundance of racers with different kinds of slick tires for those early drag race cars. The development of drag racing slicks boomed in the late 50s and early 60s. One of So Cal’s own popular drag racer from Bixby Knolls, Tom McEwen, was explaining the subject of race tire development. “The only reason we have tread on a tire,” says McEwen, “is to allow us to drive in the rain. As drag racing isn’t conducted in the rain, we would put our tires in a lathe in the early days, back in the 1950s, and we’d cut off the tread in an effort to put more rubber on the track.” “Though shaving off the tread gave the early racers greater contact area it also created a problem: the rubber between the bottom of the treads and the top of the cords wasn’t always consistent. Invariably it was much too hard.” “Then in the mid-nineteen-fifties, a company called Bite by Bruce who produced recap tires in Arizona for road vehicles and represented by a most menacing logo, introduced the first tire with a slick surface. According to “Mongoose” McEwen, these recaps represented the origins of the modern racing slick tire.” In 1958, my brother bought some 7 inch wide Bruce Slicks, they were mounted on 15 inch rims and the slicks fit perfectly under the rear wheel opening of the 58 Impala. He had high expectations of racing his 58 Impala and these slicks would give a lot more traction anywhere, street or strip. Bruce Slicks on the 58 Impala We were allowed to use the slicks in the stock classes for timed/tune up runs. For the eliminations, the stock tires and rims had to be back in place. Jnaki So, from the moment we arrived, the 7 inch wide Bruce Slicks were on the car for morning runs. For the elimination races, we put the two slicks in the trunk for some elimination races to give us more traction over the rear wheels. This method varied as to how the time slips went up or down. By late 1959, the classes had evolved and we started our 1940 Willys Coupe build. Since we used a 56 Chevy 4:11 Positraction complete rear axle housing unit, our Bruce Slicks bolted right on to the Willys Coupe under the fender wheel well opening. (no modifications necessary) The 7 inch slicks were great and offered supreme traction for the 6 Stromberg powered 283 SBC and later, the 671 supercharged 292 ci blower spec SBC motor. But, during that time between late 1959 and early 1960, my brother had some wide Chevy rims made by Henry’s Machine Works near Bixby Knolls. It was obviously for wider slicks for the 1940 Willys Coupe, which would have to have modifications done to the wheel openings. They certainly were not for use on the 1958 Impala. Those wide Chevy rims sat unused as we had ordered some wide Halibrand Mag Wheels for the rear, wider M&H slick, on order, in late July 1960. 1958-59 The newly ordered M&H Slicks were similar to the ones installed on K.S. Pittman's red 41 Willys Coupe for the 1959-60 era.
MAY 1955 Hello, From the early days of shaving off some tread to get a smooth surface for slicks, there were the popular tires from various companies. Bruce Slicks comes to mind and we have all heard of them from being on the Cook and Bedwell Dragster back in those early drag racing days. As much as we disliked re-tread tires, the early slicks were re-treads. The smooth thick surface material was added onto various core tires and created the first custom made slicks. No one company claims to be the first one to make those, as the beginning of slicks usually was a home made project. But, as the progress of the industry continued, small companies had their own version. Whether they had their own factory or had contracted out to the real tire companies to create drag racing slicks with their name imprinted on the sides, that remained a question. Jnaki If anyone has proof of tire manufacturers from this era of the early 50s for drag racing slicks, let us all in on the history of this fascinating business. We all know Bruce, M&H, Inglewood, and Bill Moxley slicks of all kinds. But, a "So Cal Speed Shop" brand?
Nice thread. Especially like the oval track racing parts. Many drag / hot rod / land speed racers seem to have forgotten that a lot of their engine / chassis technology and speed equipment was developed first for oval track racing. Recapped truck tires, as slicks or hand siped, were mainstays in oval track racing until specialty tire mags entered the scene.
We had a small tire company here in Portland, Or. that sold their own version of early recapped slicks also. The company was Tire Distributors Inc., and the side of their slicks mold was marked TDI. They sold regular drag slicks for the strip, and also a cheater slick with a very tight tread pattern for street use. The pattern was so tight that the cheater slicks really didn't help in wet conditions, and was really just to make them legal. I had a pair of TDI cheater slicks on my '40 Chev coupe with 413 and torqueflite trans back in the 60's.
In 65 when I got involved with Superstock racing we had Caslers on the car until Goodyear wrinkle walls came out and that was game over....
Late 60's early 70's Mickey Thompson Challenger Super Stock Drag Slick. Searching for more information regarding these tires if anyone has anything they can add please do....
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