Okay - lets be nice. Expanding on my original thought here..... In light of recent tire incidents, this might raise more issues for everyone out there. Imagine that happening at NIGHT? On the inboard wall..... on a Funny Car...... and the tire is sitting to where the bubble is sitting up above the axle about 2 inches from the driver's seat area where it's hard to see ??? I guess you could go on and on with hypothetical scenarios. all you can do is work safe, prepare all you can, and be incredibly vigilant.
LOL this reminds me of an old ND quote from Connie back in the 80's. Some smartazz reporter asked him why he does such short burnouts compared to everyone else. Connie replied, "Well, you ain't paying for the tires - I am".
I'm assuming it wasn't there when the crew member tightened the bead locks on the wheels..................if it was, I wouldn't want to be "the tire guy".
Small gamble to take. Short, quick burnout to make it look legit and take a chance on Whit screwing up. If I was in the drivers seat and had a choice of taking Jim O., Dick and Connie's opinion or Nitromater's decision on whether or not to do a burnout, well....
I'm not second guessing the crew chief(s) decision as they obviously have much more knowledge of the tires and the forces on them, I'm just looking at it from a concerned fan's point of view. In light of the accidents and lives lost due to potential tire failures (unproven so far) it just didn't sit right with me. When something that obvious was wrong with the tire, and it was displayed to the viewing public like it was, and discussed by the broadcast team rather indepth, I just thought the risk was too great even for a burnout. And what if by not letting the other team know that they weren't going to make a pass, that something bad (another wreck) happened cuz' Whit was making a full pass not aware that his competitor was just screwing with him on the starting line, hoping he'd red light. That would really look bad to the viewing public as far as I'm concerned. Just my opinion and obviously in the minority.
The right call was made . Period . Was it there when the tire dude put it on ? Did it develope afterwards in the wait between ? Is it really Goodyears problem ? Who knows ? This is what teams have to deal with , and they did the right thing . Everyone has the same tires , I hope they have the same shot callers as this group . Its hard to beat that group of knowledge over there , thats for darn sure . I hope all the teams are looking for this now . A little burn out and hopes that Whit or his team dropped the ball was a long shot , but I still dont think these guys would put anything at risk for the driver , ever . I also dont think that the tire guy could over look it , he also has alot of other eyes over there that might see something like that before going to the line . Never under estimate the O's , big K , and Dick O ....
I'm assuming it wasn't there when the crew member tightened the bead locks on the wheels..................if it was, I wouldn't want to be "the tire guy".
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