Ok, I did some investigating and here's what I found out:
Two guys show up asking to buy a pair of tires, complaining about the rear
end being loose. Said tire guy takes a look; they have two big, fat Kumho's
on the front and two skinny street tires on the back. Said tire guy looks at
the car and observes that not only is it not a competitive car, it's woefully
underprepared. Said tire guy also notes that this pair of characters make
Team Underdog look like the robber baron's of autox; i.e. haven't got a
nickle to rub together between the two of them.
Yeah, said tire guy could have easily sold them a pair of Hoosier radials for
$320 and made some mounting money too; slapping them on the back and with a
big grin telling them how fast they'll be now ...... if he was that type of
opportunist. However, said tire guy's been around in this particular
business for a long, long time. He surmises that these two guys aren't at
the top of their class, probably aren't going to go any faster or do any
better for their $330+ investment, and most likely will end up destroying the
pair of Hoosiers long before their time because a) they're used to running
Kumho's, and b) they're not setup to run Hoosiers on their car. Said tire's
guys experience in this situation is that they'll ultimately be unhappy with
the Hoosiers, might even bad-mouth Hoosier on the internet (who'd of thunk
it?).
So said tire guy, being both wise and knowledgable about autox and operating
on a budget, just up-front tells the guys that he doesn't think putting a
pair of Hoosier radials on their car is the thing to do, instead suggesting
that they go through the paddock and try to find a castoff pair of Kumhos
because a) they'll match the pair of Kumho's they already have on the front
of the car, b) even a used pair of Kumho's would be better than the skinny
street tires they have on the rear end of the car, and c) a used pair would
be either free or very low cost and give them the most bang for the buck. So
what does said tire guy get for putting other people's interests ahead of his
own? He gets his meager way of living trashed publicly on the internet
before being allowed the opportunity to explain his side of the story.
If anyone ever has a problem with a supplier then please just pick up the
phone or send a private email prior to going public with a one-sided story.
All of these people are very accessable and the last thing they want is to
have an unhappy customer or misunderstanding. Nobody is getting rich
servicing the autox community, and despite the suspicious beliefs of a few of
us, those people providing us services are sincerely devoted to benefiting
the autocross community. They could easily make a more consistent living
with a regular job, but the service they provide us allows them to remain a
part of the sport they love.
ps: that includes the person who wrote me the private email; you probably
don't have your facts straight either and despite everything I know that said
tire guy has tried to do for you personally, you probably haven't bothered to
give him the benefit of the doubt by confronting him with the situation you
mentioned. There's always two sides to a story, there's a high probability
that your side is not the whole truth, but you won't know until you discuss
it with him.
Mark Sipe
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