Story by: Langley Austin ~ [email protected]
From Track and Series Reports
Newton, NC(November 23, 2012) — After 12 years of racing on Goodyear rubber, the United Auto Racing Association or UARA-STARS Series as most of you know it will make the change to Hoosiers for the 2013 season and beyond.
With that announced change, there has been a tire change at one of the series biggest supporting tracks, Hickory Motor Speedway. Hickory too will change over to Hoosier rubber for the 2013 season, a change that surprises a lot of people in the racing industry given that the tracks promoter, Kevin Piercy has been the primary provider of Goodyear tires throughout the Carolina’s.
Piercy’s company, MTP Tire will also switch over to Hoosier tires as his company will continue to service both Hickory Motor Speedway and the UARA-STARS Series in 2013 in connection with Freeman Tire and Hoosier Racing South.
“We want to give a special thanks to Scott Junod and the Goodyear Tire and Rubber, Co.,” stated Piercy in a release today. “It has been a great relationship and they have been a huge supporter of Hickory Motor Speedway and short track racing. At this point we feel that a change in our tire program will allow Hickory Motor Speedway the opportunity to expand our foundation and bring it to the next level.”
Hickory Motor Speedway will be looking forward to working with Jeff Freeman and Hoosier Asphalt South. Tires will be available for purchase at the track beginning Monday, November 26th.
“In an effort to move the UARA forward we felt this change would be in the right direction for the series. ” said Kerry Bodenhamer of the UARA-STARS Series in a press release issued just a short time ago.
The move puts both the UARA-STARS Series and Hickory Motor Speedway on the same tire (Hoosier F45) that the majority of the Late Model Stock Car tracks are already using including Motor Mile Speedway, South Boston Speedway, Langley Speedway, Southern National Motorsports Park, Caraway Speedway and other top tier tracks.
The move will certainly help Hickory Motor Speedway to be able to use their marquee events such as the Bobby Isaac Memorial and the Fall Brawl to draw in more cars from other area tracks that didn’t like competing on Goodyear tires. The UARA-STARS Series also stands to benefit from being able to draw more local cars at each venue given that they won’t have to make as much changes to their cars.
It seems like a win, win for the Late Model Stock Car racing community.
