Tire tape?

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:08:21 -0700, [email hidden] may have

Quoted message said:

It's 1952, a board track, and I want to know all about this kind of
tire taping:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Look like the taped tire is tubular. ISTR being told that some riders
did that with tubulars; it may have been done to keep them in place
while the glue set, but I don't recall for sure now. It was back in
the '60s when the conversation took place.

I do recall that it was common to use tape over the outside of early
tubulars (as in, pre-WWI through depression-era) as part of an
emergency puncture repair, and that tape was often simply left in
place until it wore off.

Quoted message said:

Upper right picture, same tape on front tire of 1934 rider second from
right:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/buffalo.bmp.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Is this tire-taping like tying-and-soldering, a once-popular but now
largely forgotten scheme?

Maybe some even older fart will know for sure.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

It's 1952, a board track, and I want to know all about this kind of
tire taping:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Erns
t_Campbell.jpg.html

Upper right picture, same tape on front tire of 1934 rider second from
right:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/buffalo.bmp.html?g2_imageViews
Index=1

Is this tire-taping like tying-and-soldering, a once-popular but now
largely forgotten scheme?

Nice Find! The Burnaby Six-Day starts on Dec. 31st. I'll find the
oldest-looking geezer in the crowd and ask him for you.

http://www.burnabysixday.com/mainpage.html

-RjC.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"My scenarios may give the impression I could be an excellent crook.
Not true - I am a talented lawyer." - Sandy in rec.bicycles.racing

Werehatrack said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

still just me said:

Werehatrack said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Dear S,

Six-day racers pushed each other forward like that so often that it's
on their posters:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/kil-vopel.jpg

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/1934%20vancouver%20poster.html

It even shows up in cartoons. It's just turning over the lead:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/slides/yates3.html

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The whole cartoon led up to how six-day star Yates smoked Camel
cigarettes:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/index.html

Six-day racing soon turned into all-star wrestling on wheels:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/6-day_concept.html

The six-day format, of course, avoided bicycling on Sunday.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

still just me said:

Werehatrack said:

>http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Dear S,

Six-day racers pushed each other forward like that so often that it's
on their posters:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/kil-vopel.jpg

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/1934%20vancouver%20poster.html

It even shows up in cartoons. It's just turning over the lead:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/slides/yates3.html

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The whole cartoon led up to how six-day star Yates smoked Camel
cigarettes:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/index.html

Six-day racing soon turned into all-star wrestling on wheels:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/6-day_concept.html

The six-day format, of course, avoided bicycling on Sunday.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Ryan's link also describes the hand-sling:

"Admittedly, watching exhausted cyclists circle a track for six days
did not always make for exciting racing, so the formula was refined.
Nowadays, the riders race on an indoor track (or velodrome) over six
successive evenings. The cyclists still race in teams of two, and only
one rider needs to be in the race at any one time. Generally, the
rider not actually racing will circle slowly at the top of the track,
waiting for his partner to (literally) throw him into the race by a
hand sling."
http://www.burnabysixday.com/what_is_sixday.html

Here two teams sling at once, hand-to-hand, a more effective and
discreet manner:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/?id=2002/nov02/munich02/AW/All_hold_hands

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Carl Fogel writes:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Quoted message said:

Six-day racers pushed each other forward like that so often that
it's on their posters:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/kil-vopel.jpg

Team racing has a similar rule to relay racing, you must pass the
baton and in team racing you must hand-off to your teammate when you
catch up to him rinding at half speed. The handoff as in this
picture, where other teams are not clustered allows passing the
kinetic energy from one rider to the other by slinging the partner
forward.

Track shorts, for that reason, have an inside pocket on the left hip
for a "mouse" with a white stripe sewn on the outside do it's
location is easily seen. The mouse is a padded stuffing about the
size of a large household mouse, and hence the name.

When traffic on the track is dense and the idle teammates come down
from the top of the banking to get their handoff, this is done with a
hand-to-hand sling or even just a hand slap if another team rider in
between.

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/1934%20vancouver%20poster.html

Quoted message said:

It even shows up in cartoons. It's just turning over the lead:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/slides/yates3.html

Quoted message said:

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Quoted message said:

The whole cartoon led up to how six-day star Yates smoked Camel
cigarettes:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/index.html

Quoted message said:

Six-day racing soon turned into all-star wrestling on wheels:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/6-day_concept.html

Quoted message said:

The six-day format, of course, avoided bicycling on Sunday.

I attended a few six day races in Europe, where they are still popular
winter activities, on Sundays. You must referring to the American
fundamentalist ethic. That it turned into a "wrestling match" seems
to have been another perversion in this country. In Europe it is
still a good off-season race for the big names in road racing.

Jobst Brandt

Quoted message said:

It's 1952, a board track, and I want to know all about this kind of
tire taping:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Upper right picture, same tape on front tire of 1934 rider second from
right:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/buffalo.bmp.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Is this tire-taping like tying-and-soldering, a once-popular but now
largely forgotten scheme?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In this six-day picture, the left and right wheels of the lower trio
have a single piece of tape wrapped around the rim and tire:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Chicago_6_day_early_30s.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Carl Fogel writes:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Quoted message said:

Six-day racers pushed each other forward like that so often that
it's on their posters:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/kil-vopel.jpg

Team racing has a similar rule to relay racing, you must pass the
baton and in team racing you must hand-off to your teammate when you
catch up to him rinding at half speed. The handoff as in this
picture, where other teams are not clustered allows passing the
kinetic energy from one rider to the other by slinging the partner
forward.

Track shorts, for that reason, have an inside pocket on the left hip
for a "mouse" with a white stripe sewn on the outside do it's
location is easily seen. The mouse is a padded stuffing about the
size of a large household mouse, and hence the name.

When traffic on the track is dense and the idle teammates come down
from the top of the banking to get their handoff, this is done with a
hand-to-hand sling or even just a hand slap if another team rider in
between.

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/1934%20vancouver%20poster.html

Quoted message said:

It even shows up in cartoons. It's just turning over the lead:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/slides/yates3.html

Quoted message said:

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Quoted message said:

The whole cartoon led up to how six-day star Yates smoked Camel
cigarettes:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/index.html

Quoted message said:

Six-day racing soon turned into all-star wrestling on wheels:

http://www.6dayracing.ca/6-day_concept.html

Quoted message said:

The six-day format, of course, avoided bicycling on Sunday.

I attended a few six day races in Europe, where they are still popular
winter activities, on Sundays. You must referring to the American
fundamentalist ethic. That it turned into a "wrestling match" seems
to have been another perversion in this country. In Europe it is
still a good off-season race for the big names in road racing.

Jobst Brandt

Dear Jobst,

A nice summary of six-day history:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-day_racing

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Werehatrack said:

Quoted message said:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

still just me said:

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Madison shorts have a pocket at the hip for a stick. Teammate grabs that
to throw the rider forward.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Quoted message said:

It's 1952, a board track, and I want to know all about this kind of
tire taping:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Upper right picture, same tape on front tire of 1934 rider second from
right:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/buffalo.bmp.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Is this tire-taping like tying-and-soldering, a once-popular but now
largely forgotten scheme?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

The wiki article links to this interesting article on US bicycling:
http://hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/TDF/uscycling.html

The article should be taken with a grain of salt, given that the
author is simply wrong about Ruth's salary being $17k in the 1930s.

Ruth was never paid $17k for any year in his baseball career, and made
far more than $17k in the 1930s. Possibly the author confused Ruth's
salary with a World Series bonus payment to a team or player.

In 1920 Ruth wisely left ungrateful Boston and doubled his salary to
$20k with the Yankees. From 1927 to 1932 (his last championship
season), he made $70k to $80k:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/tsn/babe_ruth_salary.shtml

Ruth's salary did drop, year by year, from 1932 to 1935, but salaries
dropped during the Depression for most people, not just for fading
baseball stars.

All of Ruth's salaries are listed near the bottom of this page:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=ruthba01

But it's still an interesting bit of bicycle history, even if it's
confused about baseball money.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

It's 1952, a board track, and I want to know all about this kind of
tire taping:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Upper right picture, same tape on front tire of 1934 rider second from
right:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/buffalo.bmp.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Is this tire-taping like tying-and-soldering, a once-popular but now
largely forgotten scheme?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

The wiki article links to this interesting article on US bicycling:
http://hauns.com/~DCQu4E5g/TDF/uscycling.html

The article should be taken with a grain of salt, given that the
author is simply wrong about Ruth's salary being $17k in the 1930s.

Ruth was never paid $17k for any year in his baseball career, and made
far more than $17k in the 1930s. Possibly the author confused Ruth's
salary with a World Series bonus payment to a team or player.

In 1920 Ruth wisely left ungrateful Boston and doubled his salary to
$20k with the Yankees. From 1927 to 1932 (his last championship
season), he made $70k to $80k:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/tsn/babe_ruth_salary.shtml

Ruth's salary did drop, year by year, from 1932 to 1935, but salaries
dropped during the Depression for most people, not just for fading
baseball stars.

All of Ruth's salaries are listed near the bottom of this page:
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=ruthba01

But it's still an interesting bit of bicycle history, even if it's
confused about baseball money.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Oops! This was supposed to be added to a reply to Jobst elsewhere in
this thread, where the wiki article was mentioned:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six-day_racing

CF

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Werehatrack said:

> http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Quoted message said:

still just me said:

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Quoted message said:

Six-day racers pushed each other forward like that so often that it's
on their posters:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/kil-vopel.jpg
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/1934%20vancouver%20poster.html
It even shows up in cartoons. It's just turning over the lead:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/slides/yates3.html
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The whole cartoon led up to how six-day star Yates smoked Camel
cigarettes:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/index.html
Six-day racing soon turned into all-star wrestling on wheels:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/6-day_concept.html
The six-day format, of course, avoided bicycling on Sunday.

The Camel ads claim, "World's fastest man enjoys a slow smoke"

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Mon, 24 Dec 2007 14:47:18 -0600, A Muzi <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Werehatrack <[email hidden]> wrote:
>> http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_Derby_Ernst_Campbell.jpg.html

Quoted message said:

still just me said:

More importantly why is he goosing the rider next to him ?

Quoted message said:

Six-day racers pushed each other forward like that so often that it's
on their posters:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/kil-vopel.jpg
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/posters/1934%20vancouver%20poster.html
It even shows up in cartoons. It's just turning over the lead:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/slides/yates3.html
Not that there's anything wrong with that.
The whole cartoon led up to how six-day star Yates smoked Camel
cigarettes:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/memorabilia/camels/index.html
Six-day racing soon turned into all-star wrestling on wheels:
http://www.6dayracing.ca/6-day_concept.html
The six-day format, of course, avoided bicycling on Sunday.

The Camel ads claim, "World's fastest man enjoys a slow smoke"

Dear Andrew,

Real men know that smoking during the race guarantees victory:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Mac_Namara.jpg.html

Note the racing handlebars. Possibly an ash-tray is attached.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:08:21 -0700, [email hidden] wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

In this six-day picture, the left and right wheels of the lower trio
have a single piece of tape wrapped around the rim and tire:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Chicago_6_day_early_30s.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Quoted message said:

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Here's an interesting shot just before an "oh s**t" moment. Both bikes
have tape on at least 1 tire.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bike_Shops/TedErnsts/photos/photo9.html

Chas.

Werehatrack said:

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:08:21 -0700, [email hidden] may have

Quoted message said:

It's 1952, a board track, and I want to know all about this kind of
tire taping:

Quoted message said:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/1952_Chicago_9_Nite_D...

Look like the taped tire is tubular.  ISTR being told that some riders
did that with tubulars; it may have been done to keep them in place
while the glue set, but I don't recall for sure now.  It was back in
the '60s when the conversation took place.

I do recall that it was common to use tape over the outside of early
tubulars (as in, pre-WWI through depression-era) as part of an
emergency puncture repair, and that tape was often simply left in
place until it wore off.

Quoted message said:

Upper right picture, same tape on front tire of 1934 rider second from
right:

Quoted message said:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/buffalo.bmp.html?g2_i...

Quoted message said:

Is this tire-taping like tying-and-soldering, a once-popular but now
largely forgotten scheme?

Maybe some even older fart will know for sure.

--
My email address is antispammed; pull WEEDS if replying via e-mail.
Typoes are not a bug, they're a feature.
Words processed in a facility that contains nuts.

First thing the tape conjured in my head was increased traction.
Perhaps the tape had a grit on it? I don't know if the Chicago
velodrome was indoors, outdoors, or travelling -- maybe it had a
tendency to develop some moisture?

/s

* * Chas said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:08:21 -0700, [email hidden] wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

In this six-day picture, the left and right wheels of the lower trio
have a single piece of tape wrapped around the rim and tire:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Chicago_6_day_early_30s.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Quoted message said:

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Here's an interesting shot just before an "oh s**t" moment. Both bikes
have tape on at least 1 tire.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bike_Shops/TedErnsts/photos/photo9.html

Chas.

Dear Chas,

On the right, the front tire has one wide tape strip wound around the
rim for sure and maybe a thinner strip next to it. That suggests that
the tape is repairing something irregular, unlike the apparently
regularly spaced tapes in other photos that might be holding the tire
to the rim.

The rear wheel on the left shows four tape strips fairly clearly (what
looks like a fifth is probably just the seatstay bridge). They're not
exactly regular, so maybe that's a really damaged tire?

I'm still puzzled by the idea that professional board-track racers
were holding their bikes together by winding duct-tape around the rim
and tire.

Maybe they were booting the insides of tires damaged in crashes
(darned few goatheads on board tracks) and then taping over the
outside?

Maybe the tires of that era tended to split spontaneously?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

* * Chas said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sun, 23 Dec 2007 23:08:21 -0700, [email hidden] wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

In this six-day picture, the left and right wheels of the lower trio
have a single piece of tape wrapped around the rim and tire:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Chicago_6_day_early_30s.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Quoted message said:

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Here's an interesting shot just before an "oh s**t" moment. Both bikes
have tape on at least 1 tire.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bike_Shops/TedErnsts/photos/photo9.html

Chas.

Dear Chas,

On the right, the front tire has one wide tape strip wound around the
rim for sure and maybe a thinner strip next to it. That suggests that
the tape is repairing something irregular, unlike the apparently
regularly spaced tapes in other photos that might be holding the tire
to the rim.

The rear wheel on the left shows four tape strips fairly clearly (what
looks like a fifth is probably just the seatstay bridge). They're not
exactly regular, so maybe that's a really damaged tire?

I'm still puzzled by the idea that professional board-track racers
were holding their bikes together by winding duct-tape around the rim
and tire.

Maybe they were booting the insides of tires damaged in crashes
(darned few goatheads on board tracks) and then taping over the
outside?

Maybe the tires of that era tended to split spontaneously?

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

I think it just makes it easier for the mechanic to pick the right set
of wheels from a whole bunch suspended on a rack. Inside the track
(where the mechanics are working and Vips are boozing) the light can be
pretty dim

--
/Marten

info(apestaartje)m-gineering(punt)nl

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

In this six-day picture, the left and right wheels of the lower trio
have a single piece of tape wrapped around the rim and tire:

http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Chicago_6_day_early_30s.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Quoted message said:

* * Chas said:

Here's an interesting shot just before an "oh s**t" moment. Both bikes
have tape on at least 1 tire.
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bike_Shops/TedErnsts/photos/photo9.html

Quoted message said:

On the right, the front tire has one wide tape strip wound around the
rim for sure and maybe a thinner strip next to it. That suggests that
the tape is repairing something irregular, unlike the apparently
regularly spaced tapes in other photos that might be holding the tire
to the rim.

The rear wheel on the left shows four tape strips fairly clearly (what
looks like a fifth is probably just the seatstay bridge). They're not
exactly regular, so maybe that's a really damaged tire?

I'm still puzzled by the idea that professional board-track racers
were holding their bikes together by winding duct-tape around the rim
and tire.

Maybe they were booting the insides of tires damaged in crashes
(darned few goatheads on board tracks) and then taping over the
outside?

Maybe the tires of that era tended to split spontaneously?

Jerry Pearce (Virgil Pearce's son) says he hadn't seen that either but
suspects that it's an ad hoc attempt to prevent a tire roll, perhaps
where tires have been changed just before the event without time to
properly apply shellac in layers. He says Virgil's racing photos don't
show such.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wed, 26 Dec 2007 14:31:34 -0600, A Muzi <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
> In this six-day picture, the left and right wheels of the lower trio
> have a single piece of tape wrapped around the rim and tire:
http://www.wooljersey.com/gallery/v/aldoross/pd/Chicago_6_day_early_30s.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=1

Quoted message said:

* * Chas said:

Here's an interesting shot just before an "oh s**t" moment. Both bikes
have tape on at least 1 tire.
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Bike_Shops/TedErnsts/photos/photo9.html

Quoted message said:

On the right, the front tire has one wide tape strip wound around the
rim for sure and maybe a thinner strip next to it. That suggests that
the tape is repairing something irregular, unlike the apparently
regularly spaced tapes in other photos that might be holding the tire
to the rim.

The rear wheel on the left shows four tape strips fairly clearly (what
looks like a fifth is probably just the seatstay bridge). They're not
exactly regular, so maybe that's a really damaged tire?

I'm still puzzled by the idea that professional board-track racers
were holding their bikes together by winding duct-tape around the rim
and tire.

Maybe they were booting the insides of tires damaged in crashes
(darned few goatheads on board tracks) and then taping over the
outside?

Maybe the tires of that era tended to split spontaneously?

Jerry Pearce (Virgil Pearce's son) says he hadn't seen that either but
suspects that it's an ad hoc attempt to prevent a tire roll, perhaps
where tires have been changed just before the event without time to
properly apply shellac in layers. He says Virgil's racing photos don't
show such.

Dear Andrew,

Could be, for all I know--I'm still baffled.

Some of the tires seem to have lots of tape in what might be regular
patterns, as if to hold them on, though others have oddball single
tape.

But you'd think that they'd just use normal road glue if they had to
change the track tires and get going, not tape and shellac.

Or maybe you can't mix road glue and shellac? If so, you'd still think
that they'd just use road glue. Six day racing doesn't seem to be the
kind of racing where the tiny advantage of hard shellac versus soft
glue would matter much--they spent a lot of time just goofing off or
wobbling around in dangerously sleep-deprived hallucinations.

Thanks for taking the trouble to ask someone who had a
connection--they're scarce in my neck of the woods.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel