Widow Says Drag Racer Had Concerns About Tires

The widow of a drag racer who died in a crash late last month said her husband repeatedly voiced concerns about the tires the National Hod Rod Assn. required him to use.

Darrell Russell died June 27 from injuries he sustained after the left rear tire on his top-fuel dragster exploded at 322.73 mph at a race at Madison, Ill. The tire was a D-2096 racing slick made by Goodyear, the NHRA’s longtime business partner and its exclusive tire manufacturer.

Russell, a 35-year-old veteran of four years on the pro drag racing circuit, “expressed a lot of concern” about the tires “on many occasions,” his wife, Julie, said.

Race organizers “knew there was a problem,” she added, because “they mandated a bunch of changes on those tires.”

The NHRA is investigating the accident, the first fatality on its national circuit since the 1996 death of Blaine Johnson at Indianapolis.

However, on the track and in the pits, there is skepticism that Goodyear will get the blame.

“Any time there’s a tire failure, it’s always debris on the racetrack or something came off the race car,” said one racer, who requested anonymity. “There’s never been a tire failure.”

Russell wasn’t the only one worried about the slicks he was using. Several drivers, owners and crew chiefs said they had chronic problems with the tire, which they say was introduced into competition and later mandated without sufficient on-track testing -- an allegation denied by the NHRA and Goodyear.

“This isn’t something where you just test it on a machine,” said Don Prudhomme, a Hall of Fame driver who is now a car owner. “At over 330 mph, it’s trial and error. It’s really difficult.

“How do you test a rocket?”

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The 2096 was designed for ever-increasing speeds and to minimize the age-old problem of “chunking,” when pieces of rubber come off the top of the slick.

The tire made its debut in the NHRA’s third event of the season, at Gainesville, Fla. David Grubnic used it and was the No. 1 qualifier against a top-fuel field mostly using an earlier version of Goodyear’s racing slick, the 1486.

In the next event, at Las Vegas, Doug Kalitta used the 2096 to set a speed record, 335.50 mph, and Tony Schumacher used it to win the final.

But during the sixth event of the season, at Bristol, Tenn., where the NHRA required exclusive use of the 2096 for the first time, there were more than a dozen instances of tire problems. Steel cords were falling out or sticking through the slick’s sidewall, a degradation called “socketing.”

“It almost seemed like the tire changed,” said Jim Oberhofer, crew chief for Kalitta Racing’s three-car top-fuel team.

“How could we make 37 runs on this without sidewall problems, and then all hell breaks loose?”

Three weeks later, Goodyear introduced a second version of the 2096 at Topeka, Kan. It had reinforced sidewalls, but that hardly solved what became a well-known problem.

A month later -- in the sixth event in which the 2096 was mandatory in both top-fuel and Funny Car classes -- Russell became the first fatality in more than 40,000 competitive runs in the classes that use nitro fuel.

Three days later, the NHRA mandated the use of the D-2300 -- the fourth tire in 13 races, including the second version of the 2096 -- and launched an investigation into the accident.

It also created a task force to study the future of the sport and instituted rule changes designed to reduce speeds, increase tire durability and better protect a top-fuel driver’s head.

“It’s back to that slide-rule mentality,” said Doug Kalitta’s cousin Scott, whose car was struck when Russell’s crossed the center line after the tire explosion. “What works on paper doesn’t necessarily work in the real world.”

Indeed, witnesses said tragedy could have struck twice at Madison. Within hours of the incident involving Russell, the right rear tire on a car driven by Grubnic shredded almost entirely in the finals.

“The tire came as far apart as it can come without doing what Darrell’s tire did,” said Ron Capps, a Funny Car driver.

Said Oberhofer: “What it did is it confirmed there was a definite problem.”

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Racing slicks are challenged not only by escalating speeds, but also by downforce, drag, surface temperatures and other variables. They are made by hand and are the most difficult racing tires to produce.

And to test.

At the finish line, there is about 8,000 pounds of downforce -- equivalent to the weight of two Cadillac Devilles -- on the rear wheels of a top-fuel dragster such as Russell’s.

“We’re in a new frontier right now, 320, 330 mph every run,” said John Smith, a top-fuel driver. “I feel we’re testing this equipment as we go.

“If they want the cars running that fast, if we’re going to keep bringing out new tires, more testing needs to be done and NHRA and Goodyear need to start making sure it’s done.

“We’re basically using our budgets to test tires that aren’t any good.”

How much testing was done on the 2096 is the topic of debate.

Greg Stucker, second in command in Goodyear’s racing program, said the “only way to measure the ultimate performance” of a tire is to “get it on the racetrack” on the type of car that will be using it.

Goodyear officials said the 2096 was tested at speed by driver Clay Millican in Bradenton, Fla., in December and by teams at tracks in Phoenix and Tucson in early February.

Yet Millican, according to crew chief Mike Kloeber, never completed a full pass and never went more than 250 mph in his tests in Florida.

None of the 17 owners, drivers and crew chiefs contacted for this story had heard of more than two complete quarter-mile test runs at top speed on the 2096 before it was introduced into competition.

The Times confirmed only Funny Car driver Gary Densham making a full pass at top speed. Funny Cars were less likely to be affected by socketing than the dragsters, which have 2,000 pounds more downforce on the rear tires.

“Most tire failures take place at the finish line after you close the throttle, and it’s normally the left rear tire,” said Dick LaHaie, a 46-year veteran of drag racing and crew chief for Larry Dixon, two-time defending top-fuel champion.

That’s what apparently happened to Russell. The prevailing theory is that the left tire blew out and flung a rear-wing strut into the cockpit, striking his helmet.

At Goodyear’s request, The Times submitted a written list of questions about its tires and testing procedures. Topics included standards for implementing a new tire and whether there’s a need to have nitro classes using different tires or higher air pressures in the current tires.

Goodyear refused to respond after receiving the questions.

Graham Light, the NHRA’s senior vice president of racing operations, defended the status quo. “Nothing was done different on this tire than has happened on the last 20 versions of tires,” the former top-fuel driver said of Goodyear.

“They make small incremental changes from version to version. They’re not re-inventing the wheel.”

However, racers say changes in the 2096 were hardly incremental. The tire was four to six pounds heavier than its predecessor and about that much heavier than the tire that was mandated as its replacement -- which was sent into qualifying runs this month at Denver without a single on-track test on a top-fuel dragster.

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The NHRA tour stops at Sonoma, Calif., this weekend, one of nine races left on this year’s schedule, as the investigation into the accident that killed Russell continues.

The newest tire has performed flawlessly in two events, but there is still plenty of angst and conflicting sentiment in the pits.

While most say Goodyear is doing what it can to be safe, they acknowledge they have little control over the issue.

“We don’t want them to stop making tires,” owner and driver Doug Herbert said.

Added another racer, who requested anonymity: “There’s only one game in town. If we screw up this deal with Goodyear, drag racing’s done.”

Alan Johnson, brother of the late Blaine Johnson and crew chief for Schumacher, said safety is a problem the entire racing community needs to address -- not just Goodyear and the NHRA.

“There are other motor sports that have tire problems as well,” he said. “The difference is they can pull into the pits and change the tires. When we have a tire problem, we end up in a crash.”

That’s the concern of Julie Russell.

“Now that this has happened, I hope they do something about it because I don’t want anyone else to go through what I’m going through,” she said.

“It’s unfortunate somebody had to pay the price.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Fatal Crashes

There have been eight fatalities in the professional classes in the 53-year history of the National Hot Rod Assn., with driver, class, year and site of death:

*--* Darrell Russell Top-Fuel 2004 Madison, Ill. Blaine Johnson Top-Fuel 1996 Indianapolis Mickey Tadlock Pro Stock 1985 Baton Rouge, La. John Hagen Pro Stock 1983 Brainerd, Minn. Pete Robinson Top-Fuel 1971 Pomona (Winternationals) John Mulligan Top-Fuel 1969 Indianapolis Gerry Schwartz Funny Car 1969 Dallas (Springnationals) Delmar Heinelt Funny Car 1967 Indianapolis

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