CONCORD, N.C. — It appears the tire shortage that hampered short-track racing through the second half of last season and the early months of this season will not be ending anytime soon.
It continues to force race tracks and sanctioning bodies to alter tire rules and consider tires when making judgements regarding weather-related cancellations.
During the first week in April, Hoosier Racing Tire implemented a price increase on certain tires and addressed the ongoing materials shortage. American Racer made a similar statement on Monday (April 18).
The American Racer statement credited to Scott Junod, director of racing, referred to a January communication from the company warning of supply-chain concerns. Monday’s statement went a step further and addressed the segments of the sport that will be impacted over the coming weeks and months.
“Today, all of what we said in January continues to be the case. We are experiencing shortages and temporary outages of certain nylon fabrics that are needed for a wide range of racing tires that we produce,” the statement said. “Due to these shortages, we have been unable to fill the supply pipeline in some areas.
“More specifically, production of dirt modified, dirt sprint and dirt late model tires has stopped waiting for resupply. Also, we will run out of fabric that comprises much of our 15-inch modified, late model and street stock asphalt tires, for at least two weeks to begin within the next 7 to 10 days.
“Asphalt sprint and related tires are a close watch, so we are not sure if we will see an interruption in that line. In all these cases we will get more fabric at some point, but cannot be certain of the exact date, or how much of it. We also expect that these production delays will push.”
When Hoosier increased prices on select products, it attributed the hike to the rising cost of material prices, limited supply, escalating labor costs and the increase price of gas and energy.
“Hoosier is extremely sensitive to the impact price increases have to the motorsports market, and we are committed to doing everything we can to limit that impact; however, we are left with no choice but to pass along a fraction of the cost increases we are seeing in order to continue to produce products for all of the different segments we service,” said Hoosier Racing Tire President Joerg Burfien in the statement.
“In addition to the challenge of ever-increasing costs, Hoosier continues to be faced with an inventory deficit and increased market demand leading to tire supply shortages in certain market segments. While our tire production has seen record output in recent weeks, the depletion of inventory stock throughout the supply chain, coupled with continued increase in demand for product, has resulted in little improvement to the tire supply shortages seen in 2021.”
Race tracks and sanctioning bodies has already instituted new policies to address the tire shortage, but tracks made further moves after Monday’s announcement by American Racer officials.
Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway will not be selling any tires at the track during the next two Saturday night programs and has lifted its tire-stamp rule. Tires will be open to any stamped American Racer tire, but still required to use the correct Grandview Speedway compounds which are listed on the speedway website.
“That we appreciate everyone’s patience and understanding at this time, as we are trying to make the best possible decision for everyone so that we can stay racing until American Racer is able to start producing tires again,” said Grandview Speedway manager Tina Rogers.
More tracks and series are expected to address the situation heading into this weekend’s slate of events.