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Goodyear Vs Firestone
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Great Rivalries: Goodyear vs Firestone Tires

August 28, 2009
By Preston Lerner
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What if you declared war and your top general immediately defected to the enemy? That's the dilemma Goodyear faced when it challenged Firestone, the racer's tire of choice ever since winning the Indy 500 in 1925.

Goodyear had first sought to overhaul its fuddy-duddy image by taking on Firestone in stock car racing in the late 1950s. By 1964, Goodyear was ready to tackle Indy with tires developed for NASCAR superspeedways, and it signed reigning USAC champ A. J. Foyt as its fearless leader. Foyt took the money and ran - right back to Firestone. "Loyalty goes only so far," he said before winning the 1964 Indy 500 on Firestone rubber.

Before long, the Goodyear/Firestone tire war was raging not only at Indy but also in Formula 1, Trans-Am, Can-Am, and NASCAR. Enormous R&D investments led to the development of the wide, low-profile slicks that are still commonplace today. Goodyear won Le Mans in 1965, the F1 world championship in 1966, and, finally, the Indy 500 in 1967 - with none other than Foyt behind the wheel. All's fair in love and tire wars.

By the mid-'70s, Firestone had been priced out of racing. It's since returned to Indy - but now as part of the Japanese Bridgestone empire.

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Community Comments

PJChilds  (10/27/09 08:24 AM)

Of course, it's well documented that Firestone came roaring back with a vengeance in the mid-nineties, dominating the Indy Car scene to the extent that Goodyear withdrew from the IRL and CART series after the ’99 season.  Their corporate partner, Bridgestone, also showed their superiority in Formula 1 to the point that Goodyear bid adieu to that series as well.  

After being blindsided in the lucrative NASCAR market by relatively small tire supplier Hoosier, and fearing that Firestone might be considering it as its next target, Goodyear has negotiated a series of exclusive five year contracts, paying NASCAR a tremendous sum of money to supply their three top echelon series.  This has also effectively shut Michelin, though their BF Goodrich brand, out of the running as well.

Similarly, in 2001, Goodyear has also negotiated an exclusive contract with the NHRA to supply tires for their top echelon Top Fuel and Funny Car classes, again shutting out all competition.

Since negotiating these exclusive contracts with these series, Goodyear has suffered a number of embarrassing, very high-profile racing tire related issues in their solely supplied series.

After Goodyear left Formula 1, Bridgestone carried on a healthy rivalry with Michelin, until the French tire maker suffered a disastrous weekend at the United States Grand Prix, which subsequently lead to the sanctioning body to name Bridgestone the sole supplier.  Bridgestone and Michelin both continue to supply innumerable racing series world wide.

Firestone continues to supply the Indy Car series with tires that have evolved through constant testing.  Though the years since the departure of Goodyear, a number of manufacturers have been mentioned as possible competition, none has joined the fray.

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