Tom, I hope you don't mind if I slide a question into your thread from another board contributor. Your thread title is just perfect and we may as well keep it going. I received it on PM, but will share it with all......
"Recently we were told by another racer(we haven't been to track yet this year) that we cannot run a 165/R15 metric passenger car radial (118mph T speed rating) after doing so for several years. Were told we have to run a "frontrunner" drag tire but they are all bias ply and we are running MT Drag radials(treaded) on the rear. Car might run 130 mph at best and is street driven 1967 Elky. MT says(like everyone) not to mix bias and radials on same car, but no one offers a radial frontrunner. IHRA rule book says "automotive use tire" but no requirements until you get to Pro classes. I researched speed ratings and a tire has to run 10 MINUTES at speed with no permanent damage to get its rating, we are looking at 1 1/2 SECONDS in this application. Are tech inspecters allowed to go outside the rulebook any time they feel like??( No disrespect intended, just trying to get real info) As a side note, techs at this track have a reputation for being A-Holes about stuff that isn't in the book. Thanks for your time.
There are sanctioning body rules, such as the IHRA rulebook and the NHRA rulebook outline and then there are track rules which the track management institutes for whatever reason. Perhaps there was an "incident" in the past which cost the track some money and management intends to see that it will never happen again. We have a track rule in effect that requires a currently legal helmet in any convertible at any speed. It's not in the rulebook, but it is enforced as a track rule. Unfortunately, there are also rogue tech inspector rules which may or may not be known to track management. These are made up in the minds of inspectors who should be doing something else besides inspecting cars. Again, it's human nature. Some individuals realize that they have the power to say whether you race or not and it goes to their head. Then there are the special cases, such as outlined by Deuce in post #2 of this thread. Several years ago, the Operations Manager came to me and instructed me to "find something wrong" with a certain car. It wasn't that hard to do with this particular car, because it was a rag anyway. So I cited infractions and the owner trailered up and left. I would have found an infraction even if it had been a nice car because I've been doing this for 50 years and there isn't a car out there that I can't find something wrong with.
So, back to your question. Yes, inspectors can come up with rules that are not in the book. You have to determine though, if this is a track rule or just something that this troglodyte has conjured up in his mind. I'd begin by finding out who the ultimate authority is at the track and contacting him/her for a ruling. If there is no such rule in place, note the manager's name and the date and time of your conversation so that you can be armed with the information on your next visit to the track. If there is such a rule in place, it will probably do no good to argue about the mixing of bias ply and radial tires. Maybe they had a blowout on a radial that wasn't rated for the speed of the car and are now goosy about insurance risk. Oh, and just so the rest of you know, there is no ruling in the NHRA rulebook about speed rating of tires.
Either way, it's their track and they're gonna enforce the rules the way they see fit. Personally, I wouldn't worry about mixing radials and bias ply tires on the drag strip. You're going in a straight line, not canyon carving at a continuous rate of speed where there could be a handling problem.
This is not something we get too excited about at our track until the car is chassis certed and the driver has a comp license. Then, we know the car is going 9.99 or quicker and competition tires are a must. There is only one case I can remember involving tires where I trailered a car. It was a FED (front-engine dragster) that was capable of going 170 mph. I looked at the front tires and couldn't believe my eyes. He was running Cheng Shin Moped tires on the car. I said "Pardner, these tires are not meant to be run at seventy miles an hour, much less a HUNDRED and seventy miles an hour". Outta here! Now, just so you don't think I got power mad and made up a rule on the spot, there is a rule that requires the steel spokes to be minumum 0.100" diameter. He was running the Moped wheels also, spoke diameter 0.080" according to my dial caliper.