I've been an Indy 500 fan forever. I have been to the museum several times in the last 20 or so years. I have always noticed the unusual tread wear from cars of the '40's '50's. I just thought those guys scrubbed the tread and that was the way they wore. Tread on only side of the tire. Coker comes out with a new retro Indy roadster racing tire and it looks like those tires were made that way! Did you know? I'm sorry I don't have pics to post but search Coker Tire indy roadster racing tire. Maybe someone can help with pics.
I seen that on the HD theatre channel, just recently. I noticed, because it was odd, by todays standards! But didn't know it was normal!
The tires were made that way because the treads were not reall treads but wear indicators. Each was a different depth and as the race wore on fewer treads remained and the driver could tell when to pit for replacements.
knew they were made like that but never knew why. just guessed it mite have been a sort of best of both worlds wet/dry tyre
It's been quite funny to see how people react to those tires since we have been showing the Hollywood Hot Rods/Raybestos RPU. Lots of people think it's just because we did lots of burnouts. One thing I noticed at SEMA and continued to notice at GNRS is that people cannot just look at those tires, they all have to touch them. Not real sure why, but most people I see that really notice the tires seem to have to touch them. Haha. Apparently the theory on those tires is that the sidewall flex in a hard turn would put the slick section of the tire on the track, giving you a larger contact patch on the turn.
Ha Ha, I touched the image of the tires on my computer screen. Even before cretin posted about people having to touch the tires. I just could not help not wanting to touch .
Rootie: Where did you ever find such a beautiful color photo from that era? I believe that's my old buddy Billy Earl leaning over (from the left) the car. He crewed on the Peter Schmidt cars for years. All I have of him & the car are B&W.
Love this place. I always thought they just wore that way - possibly due to the hard driving and suspension geometry - after x number of laps. Dumb old me. Does this mean I gain a brain cell or two? Gary
Found them here, quite some time back: http://www.winterinkphotography.com/ but he dosen't seem to be in operation now (?)
saw an episode of "hot rod t.v." that showed those tires this morning after reading this post. turned to my wife and said "i know about those tires" and then explained.
There is no end to what knowledge is on this site. I can't contribute much but I can sure look and learn. This place never ceases to amaze me. Later, Dick
Did NOT know that, I thought the owners did that for more grip. The Museum is awesome, If you ever get a chance to go there, make the trip. I could stare at those engines and engineering all day long.
I could have spent an hour or two studying those tires and scratching my head. And I might have come to the conclusion that what looked like "treads" were really wear indicators. And in five minutes time I would have convinced myself that I was wrong because that's just too simple and logical! I'm gonna go put on my shoes and a coat and go out and touch the tires on my truck for a while now.
Thanks for the response- I too tried the address on the photo and zip. Wish I had seen this a few years ago; he'd have loved it.
HAMB member racer 5c worked as a curator at the indy meseum. He will post every once and a while.. He was quite a racer himself and so was the rest of his family..
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