AUSTIN, Texas — Mother Nature made for a complicated weekend of racing at Circuit of the Americas in Austin.
And when the raindrops started falling, a race within a race began for Traver Meinke. Meinke was one of about 20 Goodyear tire technicians who prepared tires for NASCAR teams.
“Obviously, you can’t predict the weather,” said Meinke, who’s been working the NASCAR garages for 15 years. “It’s definitely challenging, throws a curve ball to you.”
His task multiplied at COTA because of the soggy conditions. NASCAR traditionally hasn’t run in the rain, but over the past few years that’s been changing because of the development and evolution of rain tires.
“That throws a lot more work at us than normally on a weekend that we’re just dealing with dry tires,” Meinke said. “When I first started, the first year and a half was a lot going on, a lot getting used to, but then after that you get in a rhythm of what’s going on.”
The process is like what you’d see at any mechanic’s shop.
First, you take the dry tires out of the garage and bring the wet ones in. Then it’s time to mount and balance the rubber, over and over again, until hundreds of sets are ready for vehicles in all three NASCAR series races.
“Whatever the teams need throughout the weekend,” Meinke said. “It gets crazy, but you have to learn to just control situation, maintain a stable mind and just get the job done.”
The addition of more road courses like COTA and improvements in wet tires have allowed the sport to continue in the rain.
“It's not new technology overall, it's technology that's been adapted to racing for NASCAR,” said Greg Stucker, director of race tire sales at Goodyear. “The actual pattern that we're using on our wet weather tire had its origins in streetcar use. We took that, adapted it and came up with the rain tire pattern that we're running here in NASCAR today.”
Research and development in the tire lab combined with good, old-fashioned hard work at the race track.
A formula that keeps bringing Meinke back to the garages.
“Just the people in general who I work with, the people you meet, everybody on this side with Goodyear,” said Meinke about what he likes best about the job. “And whether it’s NASCAR or Goodyear, everybody has your back.”
Even if it means a couple of hectic days swapping tires.
