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 WATKINS,
GLEN, NY (August 18-19) -- Last week, Hoosier completed its first
round of testing after last Friday's stunning announcement that the
Grand American Road Racing Association (GARRA) will compete exclusively
on Hoosier tires for the next three years. Three Daytona Prototype
(DP) cars were on hand for the two-day test that provided them an early
glimpse of what's to come next season and beyond. Prior to the
testing, a press conference was held in New York on Friday before
the Rolex Series race at Watkins Glen in which GARRA President
Roger Edmondson and Hoosier founder Bob Newton announced the series
will run exclusively on Hoosier tires through the 2007 season. The impact
of the announcement was reflected in Newton's comment,
"This is the biggest thing we've (Hoosier) done since we went into NASCAR
Winston Cup in 1994."
The test was conducted by a large contingent of
Hoosier personnel including engineers, managers and compounders--all
taking part in the historic event. While earlier testing had been
taking place all season under the radar, it was the first
public test conducted--complete with a television crew recording the
event for later broadcast.
Among the purple-clad people present included Compounding
Manager Steve Partridge, compounder Marc March, engineer Gary
Freymiller, Product Manager Mike Kraemer and Grand American Track
Service Manager Tim Gilvin as well as several service crew members
mounting and prepping tires for testing.
In addition to crew members for each team, test
drivers included; Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Burt Frisselle driving the No.
6 Michael Shank Racing Lexus Doran, Kelly Collins driving the No. 81
Rx.com/G&W Motorsports BMW Doran, and Scott Maxwell piloting the
Ford-powered Multimatic chassis car. The trio of cars logged well over
1,000 miles during the testing on both the long (3.4-mile) and short
(2.45-mile) course.
During the testing it became obvious that the drivers
were quite pleased with the direction the Rolex Series will be heading
the next three years as evidenced by the wide grins that were
displayed as they exited their machines.
Burt Frisselle in the No. 6 car commented, "I
feel that the test went excellent. I'm really excited to be driving on
Hoosier tires next year." Frisselle added, "They're very
easy to drive and provide very good grip. I was really impressed from
my first lap out."
The testing left the entire Hoosier staff confident
they were well on their way to selecting just the right combination of
compound and construction for next year's Rolex Series.
Looking ahead, more testing will be conducted after
the next event at Miami-Homestead Speedway on September 13th. Using
the information gathered at Watkins Glen, additional testing on the
Daytona Prototype cars is scheduled as well as initial testing for the
GT class will be conducted.
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