Mounting Tires At the Track for NASCAR

[Wingfoot]

This is a photo of the NASCAR race sets mounted on Friday for the Sunday race. Each row, left to right, is the race sets for one team. Last year's NASCAR World Champion Jimmy Johnson (#48) is the first row on the bottom of the photo.

Our group of 40 can scan/mount/balance/stack these in 7 hours. Our group mounts this many on Thursday for the Cup practice/qualifer sets and the Nationwide practice/race sets for a Double-Header weekend. Our group will split-up Thursday's work with Wednesday if the NASCAR trucks are racing for a Triple-Header weekend. The NASCAR truck series requires an additional 600 tires for the Friday night's show.

The wheels against the wall in the background is for Saturday morning's work.

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[Goldenboy]

Maybe this is a stupid question but why does one row have yellow rims?

[4Q2]

I think Kevin Harvick (Shell/Pennzoil) runs yellow wheels sometimes. Or Kyle Busch (M&M's)
3 rows past that are the chrome wheels Martin Truex and Michael Waltrip Racing run. They must be low on funds cause their 2 sets short.

[Wingfoot]

Maybe this is a stupid question but why does one row have yellow rims?

I think Kevin Harvick (Shell/Pennzoil) runs yellow wheels sometimes. Or Kyle Busch (M&M's)
3 rows past that are the chrome wheels Martin Truex and Michael Waltrip Racing run. They must be low on funds cause their 2 sets short.

NASCAR allows any color for the racing wheels; but they can not be chrome plated. Chrome plating has a tendency to hide cracks which makes any cracking on the wheel hard to detect. Always a concern for safety, NASCAR does not want a 200 mph plus race car on the track with hidden cracks on their bright & shiny chrome wheels.

Larry McReynolds of Foxsports (23 March 2007) wrote:

"NASCAR never made painted wheels of any color illegal. You could always paint your wheels any color you wanted. They outlawed chrome wheels several years ago because it's hard to keep the wheel weights on a chrome wheel. Michael Waltrip Racing's wheels aren't chrome. They are chrome anodized. [Editor's note: anodize is to coat (a metal, especially aluminum) with a protective oxide layer by electrolysis.] NASCAR has approved it because it doesn't matter what color it's anodized, it's all the same. It's actually a chrome product."

As you can tell by the photo in my opening post, most of the teams wear black rims.

Kevin Harvick / Richard Childress - owner #29 - Black Rims


M&M's Kyle Busch / Joe Gibbs - owner #18 - Black Rims


Martin Truex Jr. / Michael Waltrip - owner #56 - Chrome Anodized Rims

The marketing departments of the individual Sprint Cup team's major sponsor dictate wheel color choices. Here are a few teams whose sponsors require a change from the all black rims:

Kurt Busch / Walter Czarnecki - owner #2 - Yellow Rims


Sam Hornish Jr. / Roger Penske - owner #77 - Red Rims


Scott Speed #82 / Reed Sorenson #83
Dietrich Mateschitz - owner
Black Front Rims - Red Rear Rims

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[sprayandpray]

Wing, you need to come up with a design that can be painted on the rims and be recognizable at high speeds - another spot for advertisers! (Of course I would want a % of any revenue since it was my idea )

[4Q2]

OK, we knew Michael Waltrip Racing's Wheels are not actual chrome. But Wing it looks like the entire wheel is treated, not just the rim!

Pro's in this field refer to a wheel as consisting of 2 seperate pieces. A Rim and a Center make a Wheel.

[4Q2]

But actually I'm still wondering why Truex's row is 2 sets short. He's a fellow Jersey boy that I used to watch race locally.

[TheCableVine]

I know how those guys feel when they change out their tires. I just put new ones on my van. I think the old ones lasted 9 months.

Seriously, though. That's a lot of rubber flying around the track. I wonder if the track gets a thin rubber coating or if the rubber from the tires disintegrates and goes into the atmosphere to cause black lung disease for the poor innocent fans.

We need some sort of congressional oversight committee to look into this.

[TheCableVine]

Wing, with every post you make you always have a great photo to go with it. Where do you find your photos?

[sprayandpray]

I know how those guys feel when they change out their tires. I just put new ones on my van. I think the old ones lasted 9 months.

Seriously, though. That's a lot of rubber flying around the track. I wonder if the track gets a thin rubber coating or if the rubber from the tires disintegrates and goes into the atmosphere to cause black lung disease for the poor innocent fans.

We need some sort of congressional oversight committee to look into this.

I remember reading an atricle 10-15 years ago about a Scientist doing a study along highways to try and determine what is actually happening to the rubber off of car tires. His point was that with so many tires worn out each year there should be a significant amount of 'tire dust' in the ROW's. Never did hear anything else about the study.

[Wingfoot]

OK, we knew Michael Waltrip Racing's Wheels are not actual chrome. But Wing, it looks like the entire wheel is treated, not just the rim!

Pro's in this field refer to a wheel as consisting of 2 seperate pieces. A Rim and a Center make a Wheel.

Okay 4Q2 - You are correct........... I got sloppy on my post. There is a BIG difference between the two; wheel vs rim.

I, more than anyone else, should know better than make a mistake like that. Before I started swinging a RD, I was an outside salesman who sold Goodyear over-the-road truck tires to fleets and owner-operators. I sold many tire/wheel assemblies and many tire/rim assemblies.

Thanks 4Q2 for the clarity!

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Mounted Truck Tire on a 10-Hole Budd Wheel Assembly

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Mounted Truck Tire on an Open-Center Dayton Style Rim Assembly

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An OZ™ 3-Piece Wheel

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[sprayandpray]

Wing, are you old enough to remember split-ring wheels?

[Wingfoot]

But actually I'm still wondering why Truex's row is 2 sets short. He's a fellow Jersey boy that I used to watch race locally.

The days of allowing Cup teams to buy unlimited numbers of sets is gone. Today, teams only lease the tires for the weekend and can not keep them after the race. The lease tires are priced at $1,900 per set. Teams are now limited to 10 race sets per track as a rule; 10 sets = $19,000. Add the 6 sets allowed for the weekend's practice and qualifying ($11,400) and the tire bill for the race is $30,400. The crew chief of each team makes the call on how many sets to mount up for race day.

Back when teams bought their tires in unlimited quantities instead of today's leasing limited number of tires, the tire bills would be more than $40,000 per weekend for most teams.

All the Cup teams today are feeling a money crunch and need to be frugal on all areas of spending. It is rare for a team to burn-up all 10 sets on race day. With the tire lease program, the teams either use them or loose them. The Truex team's crew chief, Pat Tryson, is an experienced leader who knows what's needed for the race.

Martin Truex, Jr. with his crew chief Pat Tryson
August 2010 at Bristol

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[Wingfoot]

Wing, are you old enough to remember split-ring wheels?

The use of split-rings is still widespread today. The split-ring wheel/rim is more robust than it's tubeless counterpart.

The most dangerous multi-piece wheel is the dated two-piece "widow-maker" wheel.

Yes, I have mounted new/used/retreaded tires and fixed flats on these 2-piece "killers." I thank God I've never had one come apart on me while airing up the tire, but my butt was puckering all the way up to 100 psi! I'd bolt the un-inflated "widow maker" assembly on the truck, hook-up the air chuck, stand to the side of the wheel if it was an outside dual, watch for innocent bystanders, squeeze the trigger on the tire inflator gauge, crossed my fingers and hoped it didn't split apart.

10-130 psi Tire Inflator Gauge

I heard that a loaded Ford F-6 wheat truck in Kansas made a right-hand turn in a town. The right outside rear dual hit a curb and dis-lodged the outer ring of the wheel. No one was hurt, but the outer half of the wheel whistled down the street like a bullet after the BOOOOOM!

Widow Maker Mounted Assembly Bolted on as an Outside Dual

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[4Q2]

Wing, you are still the man. Being in the pits during the race, I'm jealous!!!
I used to get Hot Passes from a friend who was a mechanic for Billy Pauch/Greenfield Dodge in the ARCA Series. Their race was usaully Saturday morning. They would pack up and leave right after the race and give me the pit passes good for the rest of the weekend at New Hampshire and Pocono. Got to meet a lot of drivers and it's a whole different perspective watching from the pits and being in victory lane.