Hoosier drag radial vs bracket radial

[Woodfin]

I am looking at the drag radial 31.5x13.5r 15 vs 31x11.5r 15. Either size will fit my application. Question: what is the difference between drag radial and bracket radial? [speaking of on-track performance at a well-prepped, good track]

[1320racer]

Larry, I can’t speak to the difference but I ran the drag radial you are looking at for 10 years on my Firebird. Great tire!

[1700camaro]

Originally Posted by Woodfin

I am looking at the drag radial 31.5x13.5r 15 vs 31x11.5r 15. Either size will fit my application. Question: what is the difference between drag radial and bracket radial? [speaking of on-track performance at a well-prepped, good track]

I have raced both but different brands. Hoosier drag radials with 3 different compounds with lightweight & standard weight tires. The bracket radial is the M/T PBR.

You should be slightly quicker with a drag radial over a bracket radial. That's what we found in switching back & forth early on.

With the current car set-up, the bracket radial & drag radial are pretty much equal performance wise. Consistency wise a slight advantage goes to the bracket radial.

They're both great tires for us & we bracket race. We have many wins on both brands.

[1700camaro]

Originally Posted by 1700camaro

I have raced both but different brands. Hoosier drag radials with 3 different compounds with lightweight & standard weight tires. The bracket radial is the M/T PBR.

You should be slightly quicker with a drag radial over a bracket radial. That's what we found in switching back & forth early on.

With the current car set-up, the bracket radial & drag radial are pretty much equal performance wise. Consistency wise a slight advantage goes to the bracket radial.

They're both great tires for us & we bracket race. We have many wins on both brands.

Mr. Woodfin sent me a PM & stated he was unclear on my post. I wanted to hopefully clarify the post if someone else felt the same.

Ten + years ago I started racing Hoosier drag radials. I didn't change anything with the cars set-up from running bias ply slicks. The car was quicker, but I did have some teething pains on cold track conditions.

Anyway, I made some changes in burnout procedures & shock adjustments. The car became slightly quicker & became more consistent.

Then I decided to add the M/T PBRs to the mix about 5 years ago. They were slower with the same set-up as I had been running, but I saw signs of them being more consistent.

I started focusing on the set-up for the M/T radials, but when switching from the 2 different radials with the current set-up. They became pretty equal for performance.

Where I'm at with the set-up right now. I call it a draw with performance & a slight advantage to consistency to the M/T bracket radial. My go to tire is the M/T bracket radial, but the Hoosier drag radial is a very close back-up radial.

This is on a high 8 sec. 1/4 mile & mid to high 5 sec. 1/8th mile small tire bracket car.

[1320racer]

He's unclear because he doesn't know why you replied having no 1st hand experience with either Hoosier tire he's considering and on top of that talk about another brand!

None of your drivel means anything as it relates to Larry's question about 2 specific Hoosier tires, one of which I have run for 10 years and won many races, money and big checks with my top shelf former Super Stocker Firebird that has been running well into the 8's and mid 5's since 2009, unlike your cutup shyt box. Further, I've been 1.17 60 foot off the footbrake way back in 2009 and typically posted 1.19 60 foot times.

[Adger Smith]

Thank you 1700 Camaro "Re: Hoosier drag radial vs bracket radial"
Larry and I are good friends and we have been talking about this subject a while.
I had actually suggested the 31.5 X 13.5r in our last conversation a few weeks ago.
1320 thanks for your coment about the Hoosiers
Larry also ask "Question: what is the difference between drag radial and bracket radial?" In the title line, too "Re: Hoosier drag radial vs bracket radial"
What is confusing to us (Larry and Adger) is: Hoosier drag radial vs Hoosier bracket radial.
Is there a diffrence in longivity or in performance or in construction between the 31.5 X13.5r and the 31.5X 11.5R since they are marketed under differnt names?
Is it just a Marketing issue for Hoosier to list one as "Drag Racing- Radial" and the other as "Drag Bracket Radial" ??
I know about the construction difference in the M/T PBR and the Radial M/T's. When Michael Beard drove my Super Stock Gen 3 Camaro we tried to get a set of the MT's on the car.
At the time (early on) M/T didn't have a set that would fit properly. (Roll out vs width) I know Michael has had great sucess & longivity with the M/T PBR.

[Woodfin]

It's become a bit of a 'tradition' for Adger and me to have these casual chats about all sorts of things. Last week, I was driving from Dallas, and he had called me earlier, so it was a good time to catch up. An hour and 75 miles later, we decided to take a break for a while

We have talked at length about radial tires. As he posted above, I have no experience with radials, and Adger has very limited experience.
That will change since we both have racers under construction, and both will have some type of radial on them.

I plan to begin the lesson with the tire Ed has had good results with.

[1700camaro]

There was a second part of the PM, where Mr. Woodfin asked a specific question & I answered it.

[1320racer]

I believe it's marketing. Regardless, the, 9", 10.5", 13.5" regular CO7 and lite weight CO6 Hoosier radial slicks I've been running since 1999 have always been a "bracket" radial on my Chevelle and Firebird because I bracket raced with them.

Larry, I ran that tire typically at 18 psi and have gone as high as 21 psi. Any other questions about this tire just ask here or PM as you have done in the past.