Tire war
[4] In the late 1960s, the deaths of Jimmy Pardue and Billy Wade spurred both Goodyear and Firestone to manufacture the "Inner Liner Safety Spare," also known to NASCAR as "Lifeguard": a second internal envelope to slow a failed tire's deflation and allow drivers to return to the pit.
This left Goodyear as the sole NASCAR tire supplier until Hoosier entered the Busch Grand National Series in 1987.
As a result, all drivers except Dave Marcis switched to Hoosiers over safety concerns, and Goodyear withdrew their tires.
Those decisions proved disastrous in the race, when Hoosier tire failures caused crashes that injured Bonnett, Rick Wilson, and Harry Gant.
[11] Despite this setback, Hoosier continued to win; Bill Elliott drove the tires to victory lane at the 1988 Firecracker 400 at Daytona.
But that would prove the manufacturer's final win of the season: Goodyear's radial tires made their debut at the 1989 First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
That loss proved a death blow for Hoosier, who could not sell enough tires to remain viable and left NASCAR after the 1989 Winston 500 at Talladega.
Three days after the end of the 1993 season, Hoosier announced their return to the Winston Cup Series in 1994 with radial tires.
[17][9][6] An independent investigation by the Orlando Sentinel revealed that the Hoosiers met all safety regulations, and the problem was to a common practice at Daytona and Talladega.
To reduce drag at the two superspeedways, teams used extremely soft shock absorbers and springs, which caused the mounting brackets to fail as they made contact with the chassis as the cars bottom out.
Ernie Irvan suffered near-fatal head, chest, and lung injuries in a practice crash at Michigan after one of his Goodyears blew and sent him colliding with the turn two wall.
Bodine and Loy Allen Jr. experienced horrifying crashes at the season-ending Atlanta race due to failing Hoosiers.
It's not worth it man.The day after the end of the 1994 season, Hoosier left NASCAR for good, citing high production costs, stiff competition, and little driver support.
Most NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series tracks contract with Continental for tires produced at their Plymouth, Indiana plant.
[25][26] Between the 1950s to the early 1990s, Formula One tire brands, such as Dunlop, Firestone, Continental, Goodyear, Avon Rubber, Englebert, Pirelli, and Michelin often warred with each other.
The tire wars during this period has been cited as a reason for six-car start at the 2005 United States Grand Prix.
[34] As of 2021, the Japanese Super GT series features four tire manufacturers competing,[35][36] although Michelin left the GT500 class following the 2023 season.
