The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is officially underway, after a handful of test days, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And while more than 870 entries are on the entry list, literally none of them could run around the track without tires.
Hence the 1900 square foot service tent for Hoosier Racing Tire this week, literally the size of a ranch house. Throughout the week, Hoosier Tire estimates that between 3,800 and 4,000 Hoosier Tires will be used on the way to crowning 26 new SCCA National Champions.
It’s no easy feat to get those four thousand tires where they need to go. Though many were shipped to competitors in advance of the event, there are still a lot to be picked up. Twelve employees from Hoosier Tire Midwest are on site to service wheels and tires; six more engineers and other employees from Hoosier’s corporate office are attending the Runoffs.
The large number of tires accounts for likely 80 to 85 percent of the total entries this week who choose to run Hoosier Tires. That includes a whopping nine trailers on site – two with equipment, and seven jammed full of tires.
“We just unloaded one truck a little bit ago (on Monday),” Tim Gilvin, Product Manager said. “We brought a truck in on Friday night and unloaded that with 600 tires. We’ll probably unload another on Tuesday and another on Wednesday. Luckily, we’re close enough. It’s only two hours to home.”
And it’s one that, as always, the team at Hoosier does with a smile. That’s because no one understands this event and its competitors like the team at Hoosier Tire.
“I think of all the races we do at Hoosier, this is our biggest event of the year,” Gilvin said. “We’re racers, and that’s all we do. Adam Batton, our new product manager, is going to be here long term and he’s being trained up in the Hoosier way. He came out of our karting program and designed, developed, and drove on the kart tires and was our test driver on the quarter midget tires. We’re in this for the long term.”
Follow along all week at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, beginning with qualifying from Tuesday through Thursday and a total of 26 National Championship Races on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You can find all of the action live on SCCA.com.
Photo by Jon Krolewicz, SCCA Staff
