Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids Iowa is celebrating their 100th anniversary of operation this year. We were fortunate to locate an open wheel racecar that competed in the first race held at the track in 1925. We are even more fortunate that the current owners have loaned the car long term to Hawkeye Downs to display it. I could use your help in determining what tires this racecar needs. The rims are 23" diameter Dayton wires and their width is 3". A local Model T owner said we need tires like the ones used on a Model T truck with a 23" split rim. He said we could use a 30 x 3-1/2 (30" outside diameter x 3-1/2" tall sidewall) or a 31 x 4 (31 outside diameter x 4" tall sidewall). Can any of you experts verify that he is correct and that these two tires sizes are what I should be looking for? And based on the photos I have attached, do I need tires for a split rim and not for a clincher rim?
They appear to be 23" rims Those rims are "straight side" rims. Clincher tires will not work on these rims. You need "Straight side " tires. There aren't a lot of choices in 23" straight side tires. Most would look to big on a car like this. I checked around and probably the best choice size wise is, Lucas Olympic tread 31 x 4 (440 x 23). All the other choices are on the bigger side, and I think they would look out of place on a car that small. I've worked on quite a few early race cars Here's one of mine
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