VERNON, NY (July 16, 2015)- When the decision was announced this past off season to switch from the American Racer to the Hoosier Racing Tire brand at the Utica-Rome Speedway, all that was announced were the allowed compounds for the divisions that were affected by the change. Effective immediately, the language concerning the tire rule for weekly racing in the Stampede Steakhouse Modifieds and 602 Sportsman will be as follows and covers the rules concerning treating tires, protests, and testing and inspection of tires.

Only Hoosier Racing Tires will be permitted in any Utica Rome Speedway sanctioned events in the Modified and 602 Sportsman divisions, unless otherwise stated.   Hoosier (the tire manufacturer) will mark/stamp/brand all legal tires with specified compound and/or other specific designations as listed below;

Big Block, 358 Modifieds, and 602 Sportsman:

1.) D300 (“DIRT Soft”) UTICA ROME SPEEDWAY

2.) D400 (“DIRT Hard”)

3.) D500 (“DIRT-EXTRA Hard”) X

The altering of any tire compound, by any means will not be permitted. Chemical alteration of the tread carcass and/or tread compound and such as tire ‘soaking ‘tread a ‘softener’ and/or the physical defacement (removal, altering and/or markings in any manner will not be permitted. If any competitor is found to have altered their tires any penalty deemed appropriate by Utica Rome Speedway Officials may be issued. Tires may be protested by another competitor by following protest rules as stated.

1.) Any tire may be inspected and/or analyzed for alteration at any time. This will consist of a process as determined by the independent laboratory that performs the analysis.

A Chain of Custody” process will be outlined with the competitors own tires.

2.) The analysis process will require shipment of the tire to the selected laboratory. Additional race event(s) may be completed before a determination is made. If a penalty is issued, the event(s) that fell into the analysis time period while the tire(s) were being analyzed will be considered as part of the penalty time period.

Removable duct tape, provided it does not deface the tire, to cover the D-Number will be permitted.

Heating of the tires by torch, blanket, heating device(s), exhaust system and/or any other method will not be permitted.

Inner liners of any type will not be permitted.

A tire durometer may be used during the tire inspection process, provided baseline tire(s) have been read at the event prior to inspection.

As stated above, this will be effective immediately and replace the previous rule in the 2015 Utica-Rome Speedway rulebook pertaining to tires in the Modified and 602 Sportsman divisions.

If you have any specific questions concerning this or other tech issues, you can contact technical inspector Bernie Lukas at (315)271-3068. The speedway’s website can be found at www.uticaromespeedway.com and the speedway office can be contacted by calling (315)829-4557.