Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Maybe there's a market for smaller tires now that high hp cars are hooking on 9" tires? Seems the lower hp cars are dragging the extra weight (and width).
I suppose there's lots of reasons the fast cars are hooking on 9"ers, but I'd bet lower hp cars could use the same ideas to hook on smaller tires.
Just thinking'... uh oh.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I asked the tire manufacturers years ago if they could build me a 7" tire. I was told that the molds don't exist anymore. I'm probably the only guy at the track who goes ballistic on the crew when they prep the track for Stock. It slows me down.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Perfect tire for Top Fuel and Fuel Funny cars !!

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Coker makes a Phoenix 7" x26"x15" Drag tire.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Bummer, if I go to the 318 2 bbl, I was thinking I could use the 7 inch tire. Remember the old 7" cheater slicks?
Mike

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Time to jack it up ,run it up and get the old Stanley "cheese grater " file out of the tool box !
You're not the only one going ballistic Billy ......When they spray in front of my Super Gasser I go nuts trying to change the timers . slows us down too or makes me go red !!

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

There is a wide selection of smaller tires of all sized and types from M/T.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Billy.....I remember being at Budds Creek with my old friend Jim Morgan and his son Matt. They were tire testing for Top Stock in the 69 white CJ back around 2002 or 2003. They ran the usual 9 inch Radial tires for a cpl. of runs and that 428 CJ made a LOT of HP running 10'0s that day. Then they bolted on a set of 10.5 radial tires using the same size lite weight wheels and the car LOST a cpl. of hundredths in 60 ft. and about 5-7 hundredths in the 1/4 mile. I would imagine a car with less HP would lose even more. Its like a fly wheel effect. You probably already know this but just thought I would mention it. Just food for thought.
Terry

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I nearly cried when Mickey Thompson stopped making the 20x6x14's

I say we make the Factory stock guys use the 7 wide tires LOL

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Me to Steve

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

How about calling Casler or Bruce's and get some re-caps or go big bucks and get Atlas Bucrons??????

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

yeah right 7 inch tires on todays stockers, what could possibly happen

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I don't have a Stocker, so it's none of my business. But, I wonder what would be the point? Wider tires are safer on these fast Stockers we have now.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Atlas Bucrons !!!!! That was a while back. For it's day, 3.5 or 4 " wide and didn't live long. Who else remembers them?

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

bucrons were first tires we ran back in 65. I remember , most heavy hitters used them, they were soft, for their time was a good drag tire. chevron stations had them is stock , lol. BTW , you could run em white walls or black walls, lol

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

We are old Jeff! LOL. Atlas Bucrons are what I started on. I latervran the 7" Firestone slicks on 4" wheels. Keystone gave 4 wheels to class winners at the Spring Nationals, at the old Dallas track (actually in Lewisville) one year. Giving everybody two 4" for the front, two 6" for the rear. I got four 4", those Firestones hooked harder on 4" wheels. The local Firestone race tire sales guy (John Calb) just shook his head when he mounted them.
They wrinkled so bad they pinched the tubes. Got tired of patching tubes, and ran them tubeless. About a MPH faster tubeless anyway.
Good old days. LOL

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

We didn't need a tach with those 7" tires......you shift when the car was going straight.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

M&H makes a Vintage Drag Slick with 7" tread. 88" circumference would make it 28" tall.

https://www.cokertire.com/tires/styl...00-850-14.html

Rick Thomason
GTOMayhem

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Jegs/Summit also stock these. They work too!

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

And don't forget the M & H 120 and 140 compound tires.....

8 PSI on a 4" rim with an 8" long footprint...

The only problem was going though the lights with the rear end wagging like a dogs tail......BUT don't touch the steering wheel to try and fix it, because the rear tires are going straight it's the rim moving from side to side inside the tires...

Just sayin'

PS:
I still can't figure out how I managed to get old??????

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I ran the M&H tires until Sonny Bryant put me onto the Firestones. They were a little wobbly in the lights on 4" wheels. LOL

Bob, I think we have just failed to die, so far.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Anybody here racing on the 7" Firestones? Called "Wrinkle Walls"? And, they certainly wrinkled on 4" wheels. After a couple of races tubless, they began to leak at the wrinkles. Leave tubes in them, they pinched holes in the tubes. Learned to carry an air tank. Air tanks weren't real common back then. I made one from an aluminum Freon tank like used for home AC units. Think 30lbs? Found painting inside the tires with latex wall paint slowed that down a lot. Still had to air them up at least once a day. Everything simpler today. Have not used tubes in a race car tire since.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Back in the day one had less to work with, and had more secrets, you figured it out or went home early.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I used to have a couple sets of the 7" Firestones. I used a 5" wheel. It was an interesting ride about the 1/8th mile mark.

I thought the rules mandated a 9" tire now. Can you run smaller if you want?

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

5" wheels are the stock width on a '55/'57 Chevy. I ran Stock wheels on my old '56 Chevy Jr Stocker until Keystone gave me their wheels.

Why not smaller tires? That 9" is the max, right? If you have a real low hp car, you can surely run smaller tires?

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Narrower is ok but probably not a good idea on some of the faster cars.

I went from a 9" to an 8", car picked up a little. The car seems more consistent, doesn't slow down as much after they spray the track. I would run something even narrower if I could find something the right diameter.

Jim Mantle V/SA 6632

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Jim, a halfway decent working 14.50 to 15 second car should prefer tubeless 7" tires on light, narrow wheels, to 9" tires. Run all the air you can, and still hook it.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I've run 13.90's with the M&H 9.00x15's on a 6 inch rim with 20 lbs. of air and that's with 1971 technology.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

My old '56 210 2dr sedan ran N/S, set the record three times, ran some 12.90s in killer air, ran 13.0s about all the time. Side stepping the clutch @6000, picked the tires up about 4", thought I was doing wheelies. LOL Held the record @ 13.10 when NHRA did away with Stock, forcing us to go to Super Stock. No more 7" tire rule. Bigger tires, bigger cams, broke more three speeds. My best 3 speed trans had a cut & welded cluster gear for the gear ratios I needed. Not as much fun breaking like that.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

That is an awesome memory! I wish I could have been there!

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

That has happened to me also

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I ran Caslers on my 65 Plymouth 426 Street wedge back in 1965. Never spun at Capitol or Aquasco. Other racers said 75 & 80 Drag-O-way was about the best biting track in the D.C. area back in the day. Several used Bucrons and Caslers in the day. The only M&H tires I saw were on the S/S or A/FX cars.Track prep back in those days was zero other than sweeping with a broom or rosin when they had a match race going on.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

The first "race" tires I ever bought were JC Penney 7" cheater slicks.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Those were the 2nd set I had. Both the Caslers and the JC Penny A/FX tires were on 14 inch wheels. I even drove them in the rain on the street. The Caslers were squirrely in the rain.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

hello, my first set of slicks were jc penny 7" slicks, then had 7" firestones. you are right, no track prep, just couple dry hops and stage. lol long time ago.. actually the penny's slick was a good tire.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

A fuel dragster guy tells me they only sometimes cleaned up an oil down, you ran 200mph through the kitty litter or sometimes through the oil puddles.

I think the PSCA or NMCA guys would have Outlaw Bucron class car going 6's and 200mph and there would be a bunch of new development on them with "W" sizes to mount on 12" wide rims instead of 5" wides.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Back in the day I tried some Firestone 7" slicks with side walls as flimsy as a Hefty lawn bag. The person who was trying to sell them, let me try them on a Saturday. He said to run 5 pounds of air in them. At about 1000' the car started doing the "Watusi" so bad I thought the suspension had broke. Relating my experience to some of the Stock Eliminator guys, who ran them at the time, they replied with a smile "yep, they'll do that" I asked "then what do you when it happens? Their reply, "Hold on and don't try to steer it." I just gave them back and said No Thanks! Bought some 8" Mickeys from J.C. Penney and put what seemed like a billion runs on 'em before I sold them to another guy who put even more on them.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

Hey Lenny Croteau!
Tell us a story about running 7" tires on the "Yankee Wedge" at Dover Drag Strip.

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I guess smaller tires would work for the lower class cars, from what I'm reading here.

I know there are some narrower tires available, but they are shorter. I was thinking in 29 or 30" diameter's to keep gearing and other changes at a minimum, since that's what the 9" tires are.

Are the Coker's being sold for racing; or probably just cosmetic copies that may or may not work?

Re: Time For 7" Tires Again?
 

I believe the tires you reference as Coker's are the 7" M&H tires. They are made by M&H for racing and available from Jegs & Summit. I own a pair and also have seen them in action on some fairly high horsepower nostalgia cars and they work well.