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What makes these "Radial" ?


Greg Myers

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IF you are talking about the tires, nothing but the words on the sidewall if it even says drag radial on it. Most are more low profile on the sidewall as compared to a real drag slick though.  As for a real tire, it's the inner construction. Radial tires have their fabric and metal belts ran from one side of the bead to the other in an X fashion all the way around the tire. That's why you can't tell if they are low on air by looking cause the wont bulge very much even when they only have as little as 10 pounds in them. Bias ply tires have the same cloth or metal belts, but they run from bead to bead in a straight line. That's why they look flat even if they have 40 pounds of air in them, but if you drop that down ten pounds you can defiantly see a bigger bulge in the side wall.

Drag radials are not worth much. Not for serious racers. Just made to fit new cars with small wheel wells. They are usually wayy to short in the sidewall to do any good as a drag tire too. They wont wrinkle enough in the side wall for a big high horsepower car. You need bias ply or normal drag tires for high hp cars. The sidewalls wrinkle up on launch cause the tire sticks to the ground as the wheel starts to move and then the tire starts to move as it runs out of sidewall. That way the sidewall takes some of the shock of the launch and it helps to keep the tire from breaking loose and spinning uncontrollably.

This is a general answer just to get the point across as simple as I could so don't have a fit from the ones that want to get more technical.

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hey meyers. is this legit question? or are you, just being you? if it's a legit question, i'll give you a legit answer.

D.W. as far off as your as your answer is, i'd expect some fit throwing.  drag radials go as large as 33x 14.5. record is a 3.70 something in the 1/8 mile. you're definition of serious racer is highly questionable.

 no sense in talking technical here as it makes no sense to waste time.

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Drag Radial slicks are used in the Stock and Super Stock Eliminator classes today...and the stock and super stock racers are very serious indeed.
The radials are more stable on a heavy car and often quicker than traditional bias ply tires.
I have a couple of close friends here in Sweden who only use drag radials on their race cars, one of them has a Super Stock 68 Camaro with a 396 Big block, a national record holder bought from USA some years ago, and the other friend has a 68 Hemi Barracuda in the SS/AH class with a Joe Allread built 426 Hemi (Hemi 3) bought complete from Jim DeFrank when they stopped racing Hemis in the super stock class after Joe Allread died, he also owns the Allread built Hemi 1 engine wich he bought a couple of years earlier from DeFrank as a spare engine.

Edited by Force
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On 01/02/2018 at 5:45 PM, dwc43 said:

Radial tires have their fabric and metal belts ran from one side of the bead to the other in an X fashion all the way around the tire. That's why you can't tell if they are low on air by looking cause the wont bulge very much even when they only have as little as 10 pounds in them. Bias ply tires have the same cloth or metal belts, but they run from bead to bead in a straight line. That's why they look flat even if they have 40 pounds of air in them, but if you drop that down ten pounds you can defiantly see a bigger bulge in the side wall.

 

No, you have that totally arse about face.   Radials have the plies going in a straight line from bead to bead.  Bias plies are, as indicated by the name, angled across the tread.

Edited by dodgefever
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well, i guess you might learned something new today greg.  just to clarify, it's not referring to a car but, a class. pro drag radial is a class. just like the many other classes defined by the tire you are allowed to run.  some radial, some not.

BTO ( big tire outlaw )

10.5

outlaw 10.5

limited 275

275

x275

pro 275

limited drag radial

etc., etc., etc. ..........

neat '55.  is it yours?

 

edit: the tires on that '55 look about 10" wide. you could do:

pie crust 10.0

pro piecrust 10.0

 

Edited by comp1839
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if you're asking if it's nhra....it is not.  mostly local and area geographically close tracks.  nhra wishes they could get the attendance numbers some of these venues draw.  serious cars, serious car counts, serious performance.

what's your point?

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the question was about the word "radial" in the name of the class (pro drag radial) not what classes run radial tires. when myers said he never heard of cars being referred to, by the tires they ran. i listed a few classes that are referenced by tire size.  yes stock and super stock run radials. so do bracket cars. yes there are street drag radials (DOT), there are also drag radial slicks (nonDOT - true slicks).

there are ALOT of small sanctioning bodies the run radial classes.  that is why i didn't bother to try and list them.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
10 hours ago, Greg Myers said:

Pro Street RADIAL truck  :lol: 

Radial-Engined-Plymouth-Truck-34.jpg

Yeah......I saw this truck a while back in, I believe Hot Rod. All of the photos in Hot Rod were like this one...motionless. It may be, in reality, better suited as a show truck. Interesting, but to me, trying WAY too hard for the concept.

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