NEWS & ANALYSIS
“We did not have access to the Hoosier tires. They were all sold out, but Hoosier called me, not a vendor, and they actually did get a special order out for us,” said Craig Miller, currently third behind leader Kirk and Mike Hill in ORSCA Outlaw 10.5 points. “Our engine builder (Taylor Lastor) actually lives in Knoxville where they make some of these tires and he went over there and got the last set they had. But when I got [to Huntsville], I said I wasn’t going to run them unless everybody had an opportunity to have them.”
 As president of ORSCA, Johnny Fenn is charged with the unenviable task of administering a group of self-defined “outlaws” and those that serve their needs. “We want open communication with every tire company, but we want them all to play fair,” Fenn says. |
As it happened, Hoosier managed to pump out a few more of the in-demand C11 slicks and bypassing the usual warehouse stop, shipped them directly to Maggart. He brought 15 sets to the track on Friday. By Saturday night he had five pairs left.
“Our biggest concern was to come here with the opportunity for anybody here on the grounds to buy a set,” Maggart said. “We didn’t want to have only certain people running them because that wouldn’t be fair.” And at $450 a pair, he said they’re priced “very competitively” with any other tire made for the class.
Still, some people questioned whether Hoosier truly made the tires to fit the class or were trying to get the class to fit their tire. Traditionally, an Outlaw 10.5W (W for “wide”) tire measures about 11 to 11.25 inches across the face of the tread when new and inflated on a rim—which itself may come as a 
surprise to some fans who think they’re seeing 4.40s on true 10.5-inch slicks, but “outlaw” rules—or at least understandings—have always allowed the tread to spread to 12 inches wide.
“It gets kind of tricky with the designation sizes,” ORSCA President Johnny Fenn allowed. “The Hoosiers actually say they’re 11.1 (inches) cold and the Mickeys are 11.25, so right there it looks like the Hoosiers are smaller.” But referring to his dog, a constant companion at the track, Fenn employs some down-home logic: “You can call Gator a pony, but you can’t put a saddle on ‘im and ride ‘im.
“Here’s the reason we went to 12 inches: there already was and always have been tires that went to 11-and-a-half inches,” Fenn continued. “So we went to 12 inches to give them enough room to do the growing thing, but our question is, are they manufacturing a tire that’s designed to grow beyond the allotted width?”
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| During the recent ORSCA event at Huntsville Dragway Steve Kirk demonstrated the width of Hoosier’s latest 33X10.5W C11 tire, both in its virgin state and after several passes down the track. It appeared to have grown from just under 11.5 inches to nearly 12 inches across the tread face. | |