My friend has this theory about drag racing; Wide tires don't hook up any better than skinny tires. He says it's like standing on a 2x4 vs a sheet of plywood. If you take a sheet of plywood and put it on a grassy hill and stand, you will slide. Do the same w/ a 2x4 and you will stay. He says there is more weight per square inch with a skinny tire than a wide tire, there for it all equals out. After seeing my friend hit both walls at LACR in his Nova (9" slicks) and hearing numerous people say "that's why you don't run 10" slicks! (with a high horse motor)", it just confirmed that I disagree w/ him. Of course when I told him of this incident, he said that's only in CA. Go back east and people run skinny tires w/ no probs. Any thought on this? graemlins/clonk.gif

I think it's a bunch of hooey. Why do top fuel dragsters run with wide slicks and not skinny truck tires?

If your friend could distribute his wieght more evenly over the surface of the plywood it would not slide down the hill.

The reason for the "Wide" tires is, that they grow in diameter at speed which in effect dramtically lengthens the tire patch and improves forward traction. The width is due to low initial pressure and is just a nature of the beast.....it doesnt have too much of an effect on traction except for the initial launch uses the added width as part of the contact patch.

A taller tire will have better forward traction due to the length difference in contact patch. A wide tire aids in lateral traction but not necessarily forward traction.

a tall, skinny tire works best for getting traction on ice- more weight per square inch. a wider tire works better on pretty much any other surface- more surface area to bite into.
one of my cousins had a beat up 71 Chevelle about 10 years ago that had the stock 307 and one leg highway geared rear end. it went thru the snow pretty well with some oddball worn out 14" tires of some sort. then, he got ahold of a set of 12" wide dirt track stock car tires and rims somehow and for some reason put them on in the dead of winter. on anything more than about 1/4" of snow, he wasn't going anywhere.. but on dry pavement, he couldn't even do a "rockford" style burnout- it would just grip and bog the engine down. it was fun to watch him try, tho.

You need to look at the contact patch. Bald tires and treaded tires of the same size, the bald tires have a bigger contact patch which means more traction(on a dry surface). Your friend is right about the plywood Vs. the 2x4 on grass, but who races on grass?,and now your looking at floatation.