thawley

From the NASA HC forum:
http://nasaforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=7518

Folks,

We are pleased to announce that the Toyo RA-1 will be the spec tire for all NASA Honda Challenge series with the exception of the Mid Atlantic region which will remain on open tires. The RA-1 will also be the spec tire for the national championship race at Mid Ohio in September and all regions specing the tire will be eligible for the 2006 contingency program listed at http://www.nasaproracing.com . The program for this year provides a much higher level of payouts than last year and will reward all of NASA's spec Toyo classes across the board. This program is valued at $8,150 per class if 5 or more cars race 8 weekends. Please make sure to pass along your comments to the folks at http://www.Toyo.com

Regards,
_________________
Ryan Flaherty
National Chairman

EdoMoto

??????

got email.... ?.

Comment withdrawn...





Edo


Modified by EdoMoto at 8:07 PM 1/12/2006

turfer

Good. Now the issue is settled.

I had hoped it would go to an open tire rule and let me throw about 12 tires off the trailer but I can make it happen either way.

I can see having to tote around up to 30 wheel/tire combinations this season.

I agree with you Edo. My Infineon Toyo buck expired on my desk. I just wasn't thinking of buying tires in November.

Rick

prkiller

Agreed Rick, at least the issue is settled now. I too wish that the payout for the top 3 were higher, but don't we always!
It is better than last year by a small margain. At least we are getting what has been posted!

It's hard to get high payouts like Kumho offers when it's a spec tire deal...

Guess I can get tires now...




Modified by prkiller at 1:44 AM 1/13/2006

.RJ

bosco500

Bad news for me. I was getting excited about running my 1st set of kuhmos in Feb. And yes the payouts suck.

tom91ita

these payouts with the "special consideration" is much worse than the payouts Kumho gives anyways. it is easy to promise something that is not going to happen (e.g., H5 and HU, etc. having more than 5 racers over 8 races)

does this mean that we cannot qualify for the National event using other tires?

Honda318dx

I guess NASA has forgotten that the people that PAY FOR THE RACE ENTRIES are the customers..

RacerBowie

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Honda318dx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I guess NASA has forgotten that the people that PAY FOR THE RACE ENTRIES are the customers..
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Maybe you guys would know. Would I be able to show up and run a NASA event on my Hoosiers? I have no plans to run NASA for the year, but we are considering doing the Road Atlanta event in the summer so Sarah can do the school, and the plan was for me to race too.

FLATOUTRACING

Thats s*cks As much as I want to be there my tire sponsor deal doesn't allow for racing on competitors tires.

Corey hit the nail on the head .................. they've forgotten about the customer.

Maybe I'll just show up and run on Hankook's snow tires and kick the %$# out of those crappy Toyos! I am sure it wouldn't look good for Toyo to have an H1 car or H4 car winning the race and having a Hankook or Hoosier window banner in the GRM picture.

JohnW

Disappointed again...

1gCRX90

..edited..

Misread the release. Still not happy.

May run some ECHC, but no trip to Mid-O for me as I had been planning.

Toyo =


Modified by 1gCRX90 at 2:17 PM 1/12/2006

.RJ

Hey, at least it will knock a $1500 weekend off the schedule

Dented Rx7

i think you can, you can race on other tires, just not qualify for championship points, if you are only going to make a race or two

mid atl HC is excluded for the regular season...but i guess it forces you to buy new tires for the national championship......(which i assume you big spenders would do anyway ;-).....

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by RacerBowie &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Maybe you guys would know. Would I be able to show up and run a NASA event on my Hoosiers? I have no plans to run NASA for the year, but we are considering doing the Road Atlanta event in the summer so Sarah can do the school, and the plan was for me to race too.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Solracer

You could all still run Mid-Atlantic

"NASA Honda Challenge series with the exception of the Mid Atlantic region which will remain on open tires"

1gCRX90

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dented Rx7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think you can, you can race on other tires, just not qualify for championship points, if you are only going to make a race or two

mid atl HC is excluded for the regular season...but i guess it forces you to buy new tires for the national championship......(which i assume you big spenders would do anyway ;-).....

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Actually, I mis-read that Mid-Atlantic is still open tires, I think I mistook it as saying Mid-West instead of Mid-Atlantic. I still haven't gotten used to it not being called Nasa-Virginia Region.

Markus

Argh. Since I live kinda close to MidOhio and plan to be there for the time trial nationals I'm bummed about this as well - was hoping to meet a bunch of new Honda Challenge people and see some old friends.

- Markus

George Knighton

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turfer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Good. Now the issue is settled. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Mid West and East Coast do not regard it as settled at all.

East Coast is specifically exempted and the Mid West and two other regions will usually follow East Coast.

The NASA CCR also allows the regions to remove spec tyres from the rules.

I think it's possible that there will be a reduced turnout at Mid Ohio nationals because of this. Some people (and their sponsors) are loathe to shell out money for an extra set of tyres (against the wishes of their normal tyre sponsors) just to go to Mid Ohio for one weekend.

speedracer33

Well something will have to be decided since the MW and EC have a combined event! What about the NE? They want to run a spec tire for only their second year with racing?

Oh well, so much for the nationals.

George Knighton

I wish everybody could be on the same page, for the sake of growing the series nation wide.

I understand what Ryan's doing, but I also see the point of Whitaker and others, who don't want to limit the monetary value of possible tyre programme contingencies.

My nominee for the guy who's going to be most pressured is Chris Cobetto, who I'm sure will come under enormous pressure to get people to Mid Ohio.

urbanlegend21

Weeeeeeeee............................... you think Uniroyal offers sponsorship?

NASA continues to not spurise me.

SJR

and they have made the worst decision, IMO, that they could have.
I saw it as 3 choices:
1- all spec
2- all open
3- mix of both

and they picked #3, which is pretty much like last year - we still don't have a uniform rule nationally. which is ridiculous when you are trying to get a "national" championship going.
Regardless of the argument whether a spec tire is a good thing or not, a national series needs national rules, period. This is asinine.

Back in Black

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by George Knighton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">My nominee for the guy who's going to be most pressured is Chris Cobetto, who I'm sure will come under enormous pressure to get people to Mid Ohio.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ditto. Thanks to Chris for the fight that I'm sure he put up in retaining an open tire policy in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Track rat

Well, at least they announced it early. I just bought a pile of non-Toyos that should get me to late summer, at which point I'll switch to Toyos before Nationals, so that's not really a big deal.

It sux that I'll get no points for the SE Road Atlanta event in March 'cause I'll be on non spec tires...Oh well. I was looking foward to having a bunch of H2's to run with at Nationals, this tire thing may hurt the turnout and that sux. I hate this whole tire thing.

I long for the days of old (early 90s) when nearly everyone I raced with ran the same tire (BFG R1). The prices were reasonable (yeah, $80 - 105 per tire), the tires lasted several weekends and they had a decent contingency plan.None of us shaved them into one-weekend tires either. The only other fast choice was the Hoosier and it was a bias ply tire, which you either liked or hated. Basically, tire choice was not an issue.

There just weren't any other decent radial choices...and we enjoyed the ignorant bliss. I know those days are over and there's no going back.


Modified by Track rat at 7:49 AM 1/12/2006

speedracer33

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well, at least they announced it early. I just bought a pile of non-Toyos that should get me to late summer, at which point I'll switch to Toyos before Nationals, so that's not really a big deal.

It sux that I'll get no points for the SE Road Atlanta event in March 'cause I'll be on non spec tires. Oh well. I was looking foward to having a bunch of H2's to run with at Nationals, this tire thing may hurt the turnout and that sux.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I wish it was that easy for me, but Toyo's offerings for 16" wheels SUCK. I tried them once, so I'm not just speaking based on calculations and hypotheticals. Toyos effectively lengthen my gearing by over 7% - and it is a HUGE difference. Even if I'm not running at the front of the H1 pack, I don't have fun when I know I'm not running as fast as I can. It's frustrating, not entertaining.