IRL: Texas: Firestone preview

Firehawk Race Tires Supplied: Firestone delivered 764 Firehawk racing radials for use this weekend. All were produced at the Firestone Technical Center in Akron, Ohio. At the direction of Indy Racing League officials, each entered car will receive eight sets of tires (32 total) this weekend, to be used at the team's discretion throughout practice, qualifying and race sessions. The Firestone Race Tire Development team is introducing a new tire to the Firestone inventory this weekend. The new specification features a new right-side compound and new right-rear construction, and was successfully tested at Texas Motor Speedway in early May. The same specification will be used later this season in the IRL event at Kansas Speedway. Stagger for this weekend's event is 0.42 of an inch. Stagger is the intentional design of the right-rear tire to have a diameter slightly larger than that of the left-rear tire, which helps the cars turn left more naturally and smoothly

Quote from Al Speyer, Executive Director, Firestone Racing: "Like everyone else in the league, we're eager to head to Texas this weekend where we get right into the thick of the 2004 schedule. This is certainly one of the best venues for IndyCar racing -- the fans are passionate, they know their racing, and virtually every race here has the crowd hanging on the edge of their seats. It's fun to watch, but it's also tough on tires and we always have to work hard to prepare for this race. We completed testing on a new tire here last month and now we're ready to go. We'll have a big crowd of Firestone guests at our hospitality tent, and we're also conducting an in-market promotional campaign which is going on in our local stores to promote the race, including a free practice-day ticket giveaway. So we've been working overtime and everyone on the Firestone team is ready for race day."

Tire Terminology: Marbles -- Small bits of rubber that wear off the tires as they turn more and more laps. The particles come to rest on the track, usually above or below the line of traffic.

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