Doug Bland DoD

[Punisher88]

I cant believe no one has started a discussion on the Rigsby Report pod cast with him. I'd never heard of the guy because it was before my time as a DLM fan/driver. But it was eye opening. The happenings of 2004 and what all he went through was entertaining. Of course it was only one side of the story, but to hear about all of the underhanded deals Hoosier put together to take him down was crazy.

[Taboo62]

I guess the dirt deep state got him, LOL. Personally I'm not a fan of tire rules, it always leads to cheating and infringes on the free market. I feel the same way about crate ONLY classes, its essentially, a communistic approach to racing, "We're ALL the same, except for those with connections..." I think Doug was well-intentioned, but like today's SJW's, ignorant of how the world works and what the TRUE facts. JMO

[chupp n bloomer fan]

I guess the dirt deep state got him, LOL. Personally I'm not a fan of tire rules, it always leads to cheating and infringes on the free market. I feel the same way about crate ONLY classes, its essentially, a communistic approach to racing, "We're ALL the same, except for those with connections..." I think Doug was well-intentioned, but like today's SJW's, ignorant of how the world works and what the TRUE facts. JMODoug got hosed because he took on the purple mafia. Just as the purple mafia got hosed taking on Goodyear in NASCAR.

[Taboo62]

Doug got hosed because he took on the purple mafia. Just as the purple mafia got hosed taking on Goodyear in NASCAR.

T!t for Tat I suppose.

[Big Daddy 37]

I cant believe no one has started a discussion on the Rigsby Report pod cast with him. I'd never heard of the guy because it was before my time as a DLM fan/driver. But it was eye opening. The happenings of 2004 and what all he went through was entertaining. Of course it was only one side of the story, but to hear about all of the underhanded deals Hoosier put together to take him down was crazy.

Fantastic interview, listening to 2 of the largest impact people of Dirt Late Model racing, over the last 15ish years.

[klemmabyna]

it was certainly an interesting time. 90+ cars for the 1st Knoxville nationals. lots of "advertised" incentives for the racers. someone on 4m set me straight about what was actually paid out. specifically a hummer for earl pearson jr. hindsight: taking on Hoosier was not a good idea. and the purple mafia wasn't about to lose. no matter what it may have cost in the short term.

JMO

[ShawnStreet]

I had forgotten about the Hummer. I'm thinking Boundless ended up paying everyone what they were supposed to get. Not sure about the Hummer though. That first Knoxville race was cool because he had that Pacific Northwest tour that sent drivers. It was pretty cool seeing those guys race against "our" guys. If I'm remembering correctly, didn't Hoosier give O'Neal a sweetheart deal to drop off the tour halfway through? Personally, I enjoyed Bland's tour in 2004. It offered young guys an opportunity to really step into the spotlight -- Clanton, Birky, Carrier -- while giving veterans another shot at glory -- D. Johnson, Mason, etc. Their race at Wythe was a classic.

[HoosierDirtFan]

That was one heck of an interview. Hoosier and their underhanded tactics.

[Switchback29A1]

Awesome interview!

[EvelB7]

First Extreme race at Carolina, Goodyear gave every competitor two tires (then drew names to give away more). Tires were priced the same for everyone (quality was not good though, I remember the sizing was all over the place). Leveled the playing field and I really think it would have taken dirt racing to the next level much faster if they had been able to keep it going. And the race at Wythe was one of the best races I can remember.

[super_latemodel_fan]

First Extreme race at Carolina, Goodyear gave every competitor two tires (then drew names to give away more). Tires were priced the same for everyone (quality was not good though, I remember the sizing was all over the place). Leveled the playing field and I really think it would have taken dirt racing to the next level much faster if they had been able to keep it going. And the race at Wythe was one of the best races I can remember.

If I'm not mistaken, They set a new track record at Carolina that night on them GoodYears ?

[kazual]

Have always thought the dirt racing world would have been much better off with another tire company involved long term, especially one with the heritage of Goodyear. Recall the emotions running very strong both from race teams and from fans, you’d have thought someone’s mother had been disrespected.

[Josh Bayko]

What is now American Racer has been invovled in dirt racing long term, and they even started the tire rule stuff.

Goodyear dirt tires have always been hot garbage.

[Barbecueboy]

Hoosier uses underhanded tactics?

[Josh Bayko]

Hoosier uses underhanded tactics?

I don't know that trying to maximize their potential market is underhanded by definition. It's not even unethical. It's just how capitalism works.

[ShawnStreet]

Wasn't 2004 also the year the crate revolution really got going?

[HIGH ROLLER]

Does firestone still make asphalt racing tires?

[zyoung25]

Does firestone still make asphalt racing tires?

Indy cars still run firestone tires.

[JM15]

What is now American Racer has been invovled in dirt racing long term, and they even started the tire rule stuff. Goodyear dirt tires have always been hot garbage.I remember the Goodyear tires well. EAMS went to them at the same time. They were garbage. Sizing was horrible, the soft ones would last one race and the hard ones were rocks. Put 10 psi of air in one and it would fall over. Made in Chile. There were some out there made somewhere else that were a totally different tire but only the Thomas family seemed to be able to get those.

[HIGH ROLLER]

Indy cars still run firestone tires.

Ok i remember when guys ran them on mods back in the day

[Punisher88]

I remember Willy T winning the Fastrak championship when they ran goodyear's for a time. That was around the time I started racing. It was also cool to hear they gave the locals tires and wheels to run on as loaner or whatever for the night at the big shows. That is something that could really help boost car counts at national events.

[King1]

When we ran LLM's a guy was trying to sell Goodyear's. He gave us a full round of x400's (d55 rule and we were running the old *d55*) we unloaded, ran .500 faster on a tire that punched 60 and everybody cried and we had to put the d55 back on.
Took em to another track the next night, washed the goodyear off with brake cleaner, won, and the distributor got mad because we washed the goodyear off.
They were never heard of in east ky again after that.

We had a deal thru poske and everybody knew it. Our competitors called poske and told em what we did in order to try to strip our deal from us.

Pretty sad really.

[Josh Bayko]

Oh I know.....but the butthurt parallels between two are very very similar.

The purple dinosaur was butthurt , tried and did make an example out of Mr. Bland.....sound familiar?

I feel that Bland mostly screwed himself over. Goodyear had never made a dirt tire that was any good, and he went with them even though the majority of dirt late model stars already had an existing long running relationship with Hoosier. It wasn’t a good business move, like, at all.

[Cooter Davenport]

Wasn't 2004 also the year the crate revolution really got going?

Yes it is....When the Stacker 2 Series folded, Stan Lester (Fastrak Founder) approached Good Year and that is how they got rid of all the Good Year tires that were headed to the shredder...the first few years for Fastrak were run on the left over Good Year tires.... Genius move by Stan Lester in my opinion.

[Crossbones]

The Goodyear thing was a bad business decision.

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Correct on all fronts man.

[t3r3e3]

Correct on all fronts man.

Until we get the big corporate PAC dollars out of the politics it’ll be more of the same. Doesn’t matter which big party you choose, the money rules all and the average Joe only gets lip service come election season. Neither of them try to lift up or tell you what great things they want to pursue, only talk sh1t about the other side while doing the corporate bidding. I do wonder which of any of the Midwest racers got hit hard by all this soybean tariff Charlie Foxtrot. In the meantime should be some good paying pipeline work here in SE Ohio for the next year or two.