NEWS & ANALYSIS
Similarly, Ken Rainwater, who pilots a turbocharged late-model Mustang on the Outlaw 10.5 trail, said all of the tires now available to the class, regardless of manufacturer, are so good it requires 2,500-plus horsepower (again, read: expensive) just to think about being competitive at the head of the field. After qualifying at the Huntsville event, he lamented the increased cost of racing in Outlaw 10.5 and dwindling car counts in the last couple of years, citing tire development as a significant factor in those trends. Rainwater fears allowing even more contact patch will force even more teams to shelve their Outlaw 10.5 aspirations.
“To be honest, I would be in favor of going back to the 31X10.5s that we started with years ago,” Rainwater said. “I know that’s not going to happen, but I’m convinced a smaller tire would make car counts go up. The same thing is going to happen now that happened when we went to the 33-inch tire. The performance stepped up and forced a lot of guys to quit. I just see the same thing eventually happening now if we get away from that 12-inch maximum—more cars getting parked and even lower car counts.”
Fenn recognizes the problem, as well as ORSCA’s responsibility to set limits that will affect racers well beyond its immediate reach. With no limits on engines—or perhaps more significantly, on budgets—he stresses the line has to be drawn when it comes to tire size in Outlaw 10.5 racing.
“I’ve finally come to grips with the fact that if we don’t police this, nobody else is going to do anything about it,” Fenn said in Huntsville. “Twelve inches seems to be the magic number. So if they (tire manufacturers) are going to use our racers and our series as a product to gain wealth, which any company is, they’re going to have to abide by our rules.”
Later, addressing the 10-wide faithful via his organization’s online message board (www.outlawracing.com), the ORSCA prez pulls no punches. “If we now allow Pandora's Box to be open in tires it will be the death of 10.5 racing … How long before we have to change the name of 10.5 to 12.5, then 13.5, and so on?”
Fenn cautions that allowing unlimited tire development inevitably will lead to tire size wars, which not only will hurt the racing and ORSCA, but ironically will drive tire manufacturers away as their expenses increase in concert with constantly “improving” their products.
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“If we allow tire companies to start an all-out tire size war on who can make the biggest, then we will lose 10.5 racing as we know it. I say put them at war on who can make the best tire and who can lend customer service to its racers and its organizations. Anything less than that and ORSCA would not be a part of it. We suggest you as racers let that fact be known and for once put the life and longevity of the sport ahead of your own desires to be a hero at any cost.”
Incidentally, almost to a man, the racers contacted for this story cautioned DRO not to believe everything their peers said about the tire issue. So, while there always will be rules to follow, it seems interpretations are always going to count most in Outlaw 10.5 racing.