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November 5, 2002 Success, Breadth of Involvement Define BFGoodrich® Tires Motorsports Las Vegas, NV This year's BFGoodrich® Tires motorsports program has been impressive, not just in the success the brand has earned, but also in the variety of venues where it has competed. From jagged, rough rocks, to quarter-mile drag strips, high-speed road courses, tight ovals and brutal desert terrain, the BFGoodrich brand puts its tires to the test, continuing a 30-plus-year tradition of using competition to develop new technologies and prove the authentic performance of its products. Following is a summary of the series in which BFGoodrich Tires participates. Rock Crawling While BFGoodrich Tires sponsored what may have been the very first competitive rock crawling event in 1999 at Las Cruces, N.M., this season was the brand's first year with a full effort in the sport. BFGoodrich Tires provided contingency awards, on-site support at many events and sponsorship programs in a number of different series, including UROC, ProROCK, RCAA, EROCC and CalROCS. This was also the year that BFG introduced the Krawler T/A® KX, a tire designed for the extreme traction and durability the sport demands. In keeping with its philosophy, the brand used rock crawling competition as the final development phase for the tire. The results have been extraordinary. With one championship still up for grabs, competitors using BFGoodrich tires have earned six year-end titles as well as 22 out of a possible 37 class wins. They capped an already successful season by sweeping the top three spots in the Unlimited Class at the inaugural running of The SuperCrawl World Championships in Farmington, N.M., a by-invitation-only event, which attracted a field of 106 competitors. Drag Racing The BFGoodrich® brand stepped up its commitment to drag racing for 2002 with increased contingency and sponsorship programs, as well as on-site support at a number of street class events in both import and traditional American muscle car series. Included on the BFGoodrich Tires calendar were: the Summit Racing NHRA Sport Compact Series, the AutoTrader Magazine Import Drag Racing Circuit, the NOPI Series for the Xbox Cup, the National Mustang Racing Assoc., the Professional Street CAR Assoc., and the National Street Car Assoc. Besides compiling numerous event wins, drivers using either the street-legal BFGoodrich g-Force T/A® Drag Radial, or the street-legal Comp T/A® Drag Radial set impressive records. For example, at the NHRA finals in Pomona, Team Titan's Mark Mazurowski, who was named series' Rookie of the Year, broke his previous record with a run of 9.32 @ 159 mph. In the National Mustang Racing Assoc., Dwayne Gutridge set a new mark in his 1989 Mustang LX with a time of 8.47 @ 167.20 mph. American Speed Association Series When BFGoodrich became the official tire of the ASA Series three years ago, it broke new ground for both the brand and the series. For the first time in their history, the stock cars of the ASA Series ran on radials - the BFGoodrich Traction T/A®. It was a first for the BFGoodrich brand as well, as it made its debut in oval track racing. Any question about whether radials would work was quickly dispelled as the Traction T/As not only worked well, but also provided a consistency advantage over the bias-ply tires used in the past. That meant flat-out, flag-to-flag racing. The close and fierce competition that marked the action for the past two seasons continued this year as the title chase went down to the final round at the Winchester (Indiana) 400. When the checkered flag signaled the finish, Joey Clanton, who was third in the race, had eked out a one-point advantage over former champion Gary St Amant to claim the season title. Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup The long-running BFGoodrich® Tires Trans-Am features the world's top sports and muscle cars in fender-to-fender, body-rubbing competition. Like the teams in the ASA, the g-Force T/A® radial-equipped Trans-Am entries benefited from the introduction of radials when BFG entered the series in 1998. In another season of exciting racing, Boris Said claimed 2002 Trans-Am year-end honors and with it the BFGoodrich Tires Cup, winning eight out of the series' 12 rounds. The title was the first major motorsports champion for the veteran driver, and it was fitting that he rode to victory on BFGoodrich tires. Said started his racing career with BFGoodrich in 1987 when Herb Johnson, who is now director of motorsports for BFGoodrich Tires, helped Said get his start in racing as a member of the BFGoodrich Team T/A® program. Said subsequently won SCCA national road racing titles in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Optima SCORE Desert Series The BFGoodrich® brand made its mark in SCORE competition some 25 years ago with the introduction of the Radial All-Terrain T/A®, the world's first performance light-truck radial. Since then, the brand has been a dominant player in off-road racing, winning more championships than any other tire maker and taking first overall in SCORE's signature event, the Baja 1000, for 16 consecutive years (and counting). With one round remaining on the 2002 calendar, the Baja 1000, teams running on BFGoodrich tires have won overall in all five events run so far and hold the points lead in 13 of the 15 classes in which they compete. Best in the Desert This fast-growing series, which added a race in Baja this year, runs primarily in Nevada, with the Nevada 1000 as its most high-profile event. Teams running on BFGoodrich Tires have dominated the competition, and, just like they've done in SCORE, they've won more classes than all other tire manufacturers combined. Those victories include the overall triumph at this year's Nevada 1000. With one round remaining in the five-race series, BFGoodrich® Tires teams are poised to again garner the lion's share of the championship hardware. Championship Off Road Racing Series East of the Rockies, teams running on BFGoodrich tires compete in CORR, a closed-course series which this year took off-road racing to fans in Wisconsin, Michigan and New York. As it did in desert competition, the BFGoodrich brand established itself as the benchmark tire in CORR, and the 2002 season was no different. In a battle that raged through the final round, drivers running on BFGoodrich tires swept all three Pro titles and won four of five Sportsman Championships. BFGoodrich® tires, made for people looking to take control of the driving experience, combine technological expertise with the experience gained in motorsports to offer a traction advantage for almost every type of vehicle and driving preference. |
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