Goodyear Menagerie Races at Daytona

DAYTONA, Fla., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rock-solid guarantees with no fine print included are rare, but when green and checkered flags fly at the start and finish of the 47th running of the Daytona 500, a menagerie of eagles and gators is assured to be there. Feeding the critters is unnecessary.

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Drivers and fierce competitors will have their game faces on, as they buckle up in preparation for 200 laps around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway tri-oval track. Under their cars and on their engines, Goodyear products will be standing ready.

Goodyear Eagle race tires, branded with highly visible yellow letters, have become a NASCAR fixture with every racecar using them. Goodyear has supplied tires to NASCAR events for more than 50 years.

And on every Nextel Cup Series racecar engine are Goodyear Gatorback Poly- V belts, keeping components, such as water pumps and power steering, running smoothly. This is the 25th year that Goodyear Engineered Products has supplied automotive belts to NASCAR teams.

Not just any automotive belt can handle the torturous demands of a NASCAR engine, according to Mike Gregg, Goodyear chief belt engineer. "Gatorback can," he said. "And they're the same straight-off-the-shelf Goodyear belts used by motorists driving to the track and sold at auto parts stores."

Turning more than 9,000 revolutions per minute under race conditions at full throttle, belts can form a wave profile similar to a wiggling jump rope, explained Gregg. "Take the foot off the gas and the engine drops to 4,800 rpm, snapping the belt straight and tight between pulleys."

He said Gatorback Poly-V belts are built wide and thin, yet light and strong, which greatly reduces centrifugal force effects on the belts, as they speed around pulleys.

"The belt's helicog tooth design, which makes it look like the back of an alligator, provides greater flexibility and more exposed surface so that belts run cooler and last longer," he said. "It also clears sand and other track debris."

Gatorback Poly-V belts were first introduced for the 2002 Daytona 500. Two years later, competitors' belts dropped from sight at the track.

Which driver taking center stage in victory lane Sunday afternoon is still up for grabs, but it's certain that he'll get there by flying with Eagles and running with Gators.