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There had been no tire controversy whatsoever in the decade since Marvin Rifchin received $14,000 from Frank Fedak of the now-defunct Nostalgia Drag Racing Association (NDRA), meeting the reasonable, 15-pair minimum imposed by M&H. As promised, Marvin dusted off an old mold that hadn't been in service since the mid-1960s. Construction would be virtually identical to what the world's fastest fuelers were running 25 years earlier, although the materials were updated to 1990 specs. Ironically, the original intent was for a nostalgic-looking design that would smoke off the starting line, then hook up and haul ass, safely. "The tire would spin, all right, but the cars wouldn't move," remembers Fedak. "The glue on the modern tracks just gummed up the tire. So the racers started slipping the clutches, and they ran 6.50s, right off the bat. They also stopped the violent shaking that everyone was experiencing with 12-inch Goodyears, which were made for Comp Eliminator. Guys were literally breaking cars in half! I wanted a skinny tire with hard sidewalls; one that wouldn't bunch up and shake. We got lucky. I'm still surprised that a 12-inch tire can get a car in the Fives. I mean, who else runs a tire that small? The Super Stockers?" Why would anyone want to replace the single component most responsible for keeping Nostalgia Top Fuel so safe and competitive and relatively affordable for 10 long seasons? Why would Ernie Hashim, the West Coast distributor of Racemasters for 40 years, want to? Why would any sanctioning body allow such a thing to happen? Good questions. Following two disastrous outings on the new skins - which require an additional $600 investment for bead-lock rims - the racers were blaming everyone but themselves. They were also burning up their cell phones, following up on every rumor of old tires in somebody's barn, regardless of age or wear. Jack Harris, the hottest racer on the national circuit all summer, reportedly put more than 20 runs on his last set, rather than risk shaking and/or smoking away his long-sought combination. "The compound is exactly the same," said Marvin Rifchin, the 85-year-old president and cofounder (with his late father, Harry) of M&H Tire Company, established 1942. Sounding weary in a telephone interview the morning after Sonoma's smokefest, Rifchin explained, "We did go to more-up-to-date construction, because the racers had complained of not enough bite. This tire does have more bite, but it requires more clutch. This tire should be shakeproof. I believe the vibration is caused by too much bite. It's just too far ahead of where the clutch technology is." Racers being racers, some at Sonoma were proposing a relaxation of Goodguys rules forbidding multiple-stage clutches and timers. Neither Marvin Rifchin nor this correspondent can understand why nostalgia racers would choose to follow the expensive path taken by their back-motored counterparts, who replace clutch discs like spark plugs -- and go up in smoke as often as not. Fortunately, the timer advocates were outnumbered by teams voicing support for a simpler, saner solution: Why not stick to the spec tire that's in the Goodguys rulebook, and leave the bellhousings alone? Thus has M&H rushed back into production the old-style 12.00-16 tire, with no changes whatsoever, according to Rifchin. He promises enough inventory for 40-year-dealer Ernie Hashim to cover both the NHRA Reunion (Oct. 6-8) and the season-ending Goodguys race at Las Vegas (Oct. 28-29). "Many times I'd have liked to throw that tire out the door," added Rifchin, laughing. "People wouldn't believe the astronomical R&D that's gone into it. We've made gradual changes all along, yet I've kept the price down. While everything else was going up, up, up, I've kept it at $235 for years. The volume is so small that anybody who'd want to look at doing this would think we're nuts." We just had to ask: So, Marvin, why DO you do it? "Because I'm a racer."
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