I am setting my 66 up with 17x8's in the front and 17x9.5's in the rear for street use (less than 2000 miles per year). For those of you running 17" drag radials on the street, Are they worth running on the street and track (maybe 1-2 times a month) or am I better off getting a spare set of 15" rims and mounting drag radials on them for the track only and running strictly street tires for the street? Is the traction good with the 17" DR's? Is it better with the 15"? I'll probably run 275's in the rear.

Tom

Nobody has an opinion on this? :(

Tom

15" drag radials will have a taller sidewall,all else being equal. More sidewall equates to more footprint.

Thanks Clint. I may just be better off with separate wheels/tires for street and track.

Tom

yes you will unless you own stock in the tire company. treadwear life on drag radials won't be good. At all.

Wow Tom, I was surprised to see this post come back up! I tried the 17" MT DR's at the track, but couldn't get them to hook well enough. I ended up buying a set of 15" rims and mounted 275/60 MT DR's. That did the trick. I run the 17" DR's on the street. They handle pretty well and hook decent on the street. I put about 500 miles on them so far. My guess is that I might get 800 miles out of them before they are toast.

Get yourself a set of 15" rims for the track. Itried a set of Mickey Tompson ET Streets on 17 x 9.5" rims with mith my 598 BB. Best 60 foot I could get was 1.768 with goodyear 29 x 10 slicks best has been 1.552. I have a tranny brake and when I tried it with the et streets just sat there and went up in smoke 2.50 60 foot LOL.

I have BFG Drag Radials on my other toy. They hook extremely well, and took .4 sec off my sixty foots. I drive them on the street, and at 2000 miles a year, wear should not be a problem, except that they have track life left after the tread is too skinny for the street. I will note that they don't have much wet weather traction, but that has not been a problem for me.

This is on a 2900 lb, high 12 sec car, with 1.90 sixty foots. I love them, and don't use any other tires on the rear anymore.