Goodyear, NHRA sportsmen at Indy

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Severance makes ‘em pay: Wins Indy on Goodyear’s D3122

      CLERMONT, Ind. (Sept. 7, 2015) – Joey Severance has driven Top Alcohol Dragsters in NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series competition for more than a decade but he didn’t try to win drag racing’s crown jewel until this year.      He’ll be back.      Severance, of Woodburn, Ore., won his category at the 61st running of the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals at Lucas Oil Speedway at Indianapolis.       When he crossed the finish line and realized he’d won the final round of the biggest race of his life, Severance said he was relieved.      “All the hair stood up on my arms and I got goose bumps and all that stuff,” Severance said. “It was pretty emotional.” Severance started eliminations with a significant advantage on his car, Goodyear’s new D3122 rear tire. All four cars in the TAD semifinals raced on Goodyears and three of the four used the D3122. Severance beat Cameron Ferre in the TAD final.      “It’s sticky,” Severance said of the D3122. “It worked pretty well this weekend.”      The D3122 measures 34.5 inches tall and 17 inches across the tread face. It mounts on a 16-inch rim.      The ambient conditions at Indy made the famed drag strip tricky for the teams in all categories, both sportsmen and professionals. Track temperatures reached 127 degrees during the event.      “The D3122 is a very effective tire,” said Goodyear’s Bryce Jones. “It worked on both types of engine applications in TAD this weekend. That’s quite unusual.”      The sportsman teams in all Lucas Oil categories have their choice of tiremakers.     Goodyear employs about 69,000 people at manufacturing plants and facilities in 22 nations. Based in Akron, Ohio, Goodyear is among the largest tiremakers in the world and is the worldwide leader in race tire innovation.