Functional Nostalgia Slicks?

[Polara Pat]

We've been running the Hurst Racing 30/10/15 pie crust slicks on our altered this past season with mixed results. If we go to a bomber facility like Mission where they run 5 second cars and the prep is usually nothing short of phenomenal then the tires work great, providing they have no time to cool down between the burn-out and launch. Unfortunately we end up running a lot of smaller less prepped tracks and these tires won't hook to save their lives.
I'm not expecting wrinkle wall performance from these tires but they're down right crappy in a less than perfect environment.
Anyone know of a similar looking tire that will perform? The obvious answer is to just run a modern radial slick but I was hoping to stick with a look that complements the car.

 

[Budnicks]

Firestone Dragster Cheater Slick 820/15" to 1000/15" black wall or White wall $324-$394 ea., I think they were 29.5" & 30.5" tall 12.25" section width, 8.5"-9.5" tread width, I saw them in Speedway Motors, Jegs & I think also Summit Racing catalogs, Coker Tires sells something similar also, I don't remember what the brand is... I have no idea if any of these are any better...

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I think M&H & M/T use to make a nostalgia type cheater slick too...

 

[RustyRatRod]

How do you think this would look? I bet it would work better.

http://www.cokertire.com/tire-applications/dragster-racing/10-5-29-5-15-phoenix-race-tires.html

 

[Budnicks]

How do you think this would look? I bet it would work better.

http://www.cokertire.com/tire-applications/dragster-racing/10-5-29-5-15-phoenix-race-tires.html

That tire is a far newer type tech. for sure, I'm sure it would hook much better, I don't know what rules, looks or styles, they {PolarPat} need to abide by, but those Phoenix Slicks aren't Nostalgia type Racing Slicks...

 

[Polara Pat]

That tire is a far newer type tech. for sure, I'm sure it would hook much better, I don't know what rules, looks or styles, they {PolarPat} need to abide by, but those Phoenix Slicks aren't Nostalgia type Racing Slicks...

But they do say F/X on them...

We're not bound by any style sanctioning except for what we want the car to look like. The sacrifice of looks over functionality will probably prevail here unfortunately. We've run M/T wrinkle walls on this car and they work well but look out of place.

 

[Budnicks]

The Nostalgia type look thing, can hurt sometimes, always a trade off, it seems, form over function... I would far rather have something that performs well, especially over something that looks good &/or period correct type thing, as long as the rules allow it anyway... That's just me, a best of both worlds, would be nice, but I've made many decisions, based on the same type criteria also, wanting a certain style/look too, always seems you have to trade off something, it seems...

 

[Polara Pat]

The Nostalgia type look thing, can hurt sometimes, always a trade off, it seems, form over function... I would far rather have something that performs well, especially over something that looks good &/or period correct type thing, as long as the rules allow it anyway... That's just me, a best of both worlds, would be nice, but I've made many decisions, based on the same type criteria also, wanting a certain style/look too, always seems you have to trade off something, it seems...

I couldn't agree more and I've recently come to the conclusion that you can't have bad-*** looking rubber and something that actually works well on all different types of tracks. This car was also intended to see occasional street duty as were putting it all together but by the end of the build it was clear that we had built a drag only wagon. Those Hurst tires also weigh almost 50# each. Couple that with our 8" steel cop wheels and you've got some heavy-*** rolling stock. We've got some pretty drastic changes happening in the off season and tire choice is at the top of the list.

Thanks for all the good advice. I'll let you all know what we decide.

 

[Budnicks]

Pat, good luck with all your choices...

 

[RustyRatRod]

Well hell, since we went to the trouble to give you all this expert excellent advice, don't you think we deserve to see the whole car? lol

 

[Polara Pat]

Well hell, since we went to the trouble to give you all this expert excellent advice, don't you think we deserve to see the whole car? lol

You don't have to ask me twice. I figured most folks on here are familiar with our wreck. You can also follow the entire build and racing progress to date through the blog link below.

 

[Budnicks]

I do love them wagons, especially when they have the 60's-70's, AWB, F/X or S/S nostalgia race car look, very cool...

 

[Polara Pat]

I do love them wagons, especially when they have the 60's-70's, AWB, F/X or S/S nostalgia race car look, very cool...

The theme of the build was 1965 (the most important year in drag racing, in my opinion) By '66 the awb craze was coming to a close and pretty much forgotten by the end of the decade, which is why we wanted to use these tires. We're leaning heavily in the direction of the Phoenix slicks from Coker at this stage.

 

[1962savoy]

Have you thought about using Radir pie crusts??? I think their made by M&H and are a true bias ply slick. I have a set on my car but havent been down the track with them yet so I really dont know what proformance you get from them.
My 2 cents anyways... good luck with it.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Total badassary. I love it. Thanks for sharin.

You don't have to ask me twice. I figured most folks on here are familiar with our wreck. You can also follow the entire build and racing progress to date through the blog link below.