Comments on: Farewell To Firestone

By: http://www.freestufftimes.com/free-nature-valley-granola-bar-at-xtra-mart

http://www.freestufftimes.com/free-nature-valley-granola-bar-at-xtra-mart — Sat, 25 May 2013 08:06:01 +0000

Iím not that much of a online reader to be honest but your
blogs really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your site to come back in the future. Cheers

By: jerry murphree

jerry murphree — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:40:02 +0000

sir
i own the last sprint car that was built by 15 time indy qualifer jim mcelreath.
could any of you please advise me as to where i could find some
16″ tires for both the front and rear of this magificent piece of racing history.
thanks
jerry murpgree
rowlett texas

By: JohnMc

JohnMc — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 00:29:49 +0000

Well, if Nashville ever had a shot at getting IndyCar to come back then that shot has ceased to exist.

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:03:43 +0000

I’m disappointed that Firestone is leaving, but not exactly heartbroken. They’ve been a fantastic partner of the IndyCar (and CART before that) series for years, and so for that reason (in addition to their unprecedented, nearly perfect safety record), I’m sad to see them go.

On the other hand, I wonder if becoming the flagship, centerpiece sponsorship for some other brand could bring dividends for the series. Cooper, for instance, has no other high visibility sponsorship in motorsports (USF2000 is not exaclty high visibility), and the same goes for Kumho, Hankook and Yokohama. If IndyCar, and even better for whatever company comes to play, the Indy 500, can become the #1 piece of some other manufacturer’s marketing scheme, we could even see an increase in signage, billboards and newspaper ads, not to mention things that Firestone/Bridgestone hasn’t even tried yet (I’m not a marketing guy, so I’m not sure what those things might be, but maybe somebody else could enlighten here). I think that the science of making tires has advanced to the point where nearly any manufacturer ought to be able to make a safe tire even to speeds of 230 MPH and beyond, so I’m not too worried about mass failures, but I am far more interested in what another manufacturer can do for the IndyCar series. It’ll be an interesting 5-6 months while we wait to see what happens on this front.

By: The Lapper

The Lapper — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:38:34 +0000

I remember that 10 years ago there were plans drawn up to drop the Firestone brand completely and that is what I think will happen. 5 years from now the Firestone Service Centers will be rebranded as Bridgestone.

By: Br!an McKay

Br!an McKay — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 03:08:26 +0000

another good blog post & another good photo of George

I prefer to buy American when I can, and I bought Goodyear (“#1 in racing”) tires several times over the years. I switched ‘allegiance’ to Firestone which was supporting Indy Lights, IndyCar and CART racing. I’m proudly driving on yet another set of Firestone performance tires.
Too bad that wherever I traveled in the U.S. I only saw a banner or poster picturing an IndyCar in one Firestone store. I always hoped that someone would want to tout Firestone’s top-tier U.S. motorsports involvement in its stores and in Sears, Pep Boys, NTB, etcetera…

By: billytheskink

billytheskink — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:07:00 +0000

I don’t think that the Firestone brand will be discontinued any time in the near future. While the national advertising emphasis has shifted to Bridgestone, Firestone remains the company’s brand of choice for its retail outlets.
The brand may fade, but outright disappearance seems unlikely given that Bridgestone/Firestone brands such as LeMans and Dayton continue to be sold despite marketing expenditures that may very well be less than zero dollars.

While I have never had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Al Speyer and Joe Barbieri (I’m a tick envious of you George), I always appreciated the commitment and passion they appeared to have for racing in general and open-wheel racing in particular. Back when both guys were regularly appearing on ChampCar broadcasts, a friend and I jokingly took to referring to ourselves as the “Joe Barbieri Fan Club”.

IndyCar may miss the people of Bridgestone/Firestone as much as they’ll miss the safe, quality tires.

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:26:43 +0000

I actually tried to buy Firestones for my car. There were none in my size, but they had plenty of the Bridgestone brand available.

By: Steve K

Steve K — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:26:27 +0000

I Love the Marlboro shirt. So dated. My opinion on Firestone leaving is actually quite different. On the oval side of things they did great. If you watched the Cup race Saturday, Jeff Gordon and David Gilliland proved how dangerous blown tires can be. As noted above, Firestone made a great oval tire.

On the road course side of things I couldn’t be happier they are leaving. The tire was too durable. The Red tired were too durable. I want to see a driver that manages his or her tires the best be the strongest at the end of a run. Road course racing has lacked excitement and this along with a more powerful engine will help spice them up. The best F1 race last year was Montreal-as voted by F1Fanatic’s web page. The reason-the tires wore out which led to extra pit stops and lots more passing. Bridgestone left F1 and Parelli was instructed to make a tire less durable so more races fit the Canada mold and not last years Bahrain. Firestone leaving could be a great thing for fans of road courses.

By: H.B. Donnelly

H.B. Donnelly — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 14:56:48 +0000

The fact that we’ve actually gotten bored with watching cars go 225+ at Indianapolis is a testament to how safe the Firestone tires have been, and that’s definitely a compliment. The main difference we’re probably going to see is in May, 2012, when drivers are soiling their uniforms throwing turbo V6′s into Turn 1 on largely unproven tires.

Great story about your meeting with Speyer and Barbieri, by the way. The only way to get ahead in life is to take some initiative, and you certainly did it there.