GOODYEAR TAKES 11 SCCA NATIONAL WINS AT FONTANA

Source: Lee Elder
Date: 01/31/2007

FONTANA, Calif. -- Sports car racers competing on Goodyear tires won 11 times in Sports Car Club of America national competition on California Speedway’s road course. The national points race was part of a regional racing weekend hosted by the California Sports Car Club.

Goodyear’s win total was the best among tiremakers. Goodyear’s wins came on both radial and bias-ply tires and in open wheel cars as well as full-bodied racers. No tiremaker has been as successful in the SCCA’s championship event, the National Championship Runoffs, as Goodyear.

“I love these Goodyears,” said Ethan Shippert, the Formula Ford winner. “The car was perfect, real predictable all the way.” Shippert, who is a Novato, Calif. resident and a racecar designer by trade, had never raced a Formula Ford before.

The other open wheel car drivers using Goodyear tires included T.J. Acker (Spec Racer Ford), Joshua Held (D Sports Racer), Tom Barnette (Formula Mazda) and Michael Scully (Sports 2000).

The full bodied cars winning on Goodyears were driven by Michael Lewis (GT1), Evan Gardner (GT2), Wolfgang Maike (GT3), Bill Gilcrease (GT Light), Dave Lemon (E Production), and 90-year-old Tom Eddleman (H Production).

Lemon, Signal Hill, Calif., said, “I’ve been racing on Goodyear tires since I started driving school in 1971. I’ve never run anything else. I keep winning with them. They work real well.”

The conditions were challenging, because they changed, for the teams. Saturday’s cool morning gave way to a cloudy and cool afternoon. Sunday’s races were held under sunny skies.

Acker, Aqua Dulce, Calif., won two races over the weekend, taking a victory in Saturday’s regional race over defending national champion Mike Miserendino. Miserendino crashed out of Sunday’s national points event.

Lewis, Poway, Calif., said using Goodyear radial tires is an important advantage in the GT1 class. He said, “They’re the best. They didn’t let me down.”

Gardner, Glendale, Calif., said the Goodyear Eagle radial tires that took him to the GT2 victory have 25 heat cycles on them, meaning they have been used in 25 practice, qualifying or racing sessions. He said, “We ran on bias-ply tires before, then went to the radials and that was a big improvement.”

Goodyear’s emphasis on road racing development paid off handsomely for the amateur drivers at Fontana.

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