Hoosier tire shortage brings cancellation
Tires come from rubber trees that are grown mostly in Southeast Asia. Those trees are becoming harder to find.
Due to COVID-19, many of these trees weren’t planted. However, the trees take 7 years to grow. It’s not the only reason for the shortage.
Multiple factors are at play, including port delays. As recently as a month ago, 33 ships were waiting to dock at a popular port in Southern California. At the time, some of those ships had been waiting weeks to dock.
Part of the issue is bigger ships. As the ships have increased in size, it takes much longer for them to be unloaded. The other issue is when whole countries flip on the lights from quarantine, they need supplies, all at once.
China is the largest consumer of rubber in the world. As they bounced back from the pandemic, they were the first to need rubber again, draining supplies.
Goodyear told CNBC a month ago: “We are not currently experiencing supply limitations on natural rubber. While we experienced tight supply late last year during the industry ramp up, we took proactive measures that ensured Goodyear’s rubber supply met our factory needs.”
It can be expected that consumer tires come before the racing industry. Thus, Hoosier Racing Tires, a division of Continental is short on many tires.
Recently, dirt late model racers have taken to the internet in search of new rubber.
Bobby Pierce asked via facebook, “If anybody has any new 90 LM 20’s 92.5 – 93 chalk Please DM me if you’d like to sell them for what you bought them for. Thanks.”
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series cancels event
Now, the tire shortage is bad enough to warrant cancellations.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is one of two national late model tours in the United States. They were scheduled to make a stop at I-80 Speedway on September 15th, racing for $12,000 to win.
That event has been canceled by the series as of Monday afternoon.
Note worthy: The race at I-80 was scheduled just ahead of the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. A three-day event that will require teams to have a stockpile of tires in place.
