Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

eINTERVIEW ~ Dedicated to road racing lim Allen O'l O'l ,......., th ings aren't th ere, you reasonabl y can' t expec t a discount. I wou ld love to give free tires to everyo ne ," he cont in ues. " But we' re in bu sin ess to make mon ey and to stay in business. If we go o u t of bu sin ess becau se. we give too mu ch stuff awa y, then that doesn't do Dunlop or racing a ny good." To cont racted riders, tir e cost is not a concern. However, getting eq ua l distribution of tir es cou ld becom e a sens itive issue. " It 's difficult (distribu ting tir es eq ua lly)," Allen admits. " I' ve had to go to (a top team ) and say: 'Look, this is what you have for the .weekend,' There may be a particular tire that they know and like, but if I didn 't get all I needed , . .. they may on ly hav e two tires, or even o ne tire (available to them ) for a particular weekend. I also hav e a responsibil ity to the (p rivateers). They need tir es as well. " Dealing with tire-supply situatio ns rais ed just a few mil es from Mosport, wh ere he began his racing career in 1967. In 1973, he won hi s first number o ne plat e in Canada , while riding with teammat es Steve Baker and Jim Dunn for the Yamah a Canada T eam. Allen won two Canadian number one plates in 1977 as a privateer and occasionally competed in AMA even ts. His top AMA 250cc finish was a second behind the legendary Gary Nixon at Loudon . And hi s best 750cc fini sh wa s at Ch arl otte, wh ere he finished fifth after runn ing third. In 1978, Allen called it quits. " It was just tim e," he said . '1 wanted to win, but I wasn 't willing to work for it any more. Once yo u recognize that you really don 't want to do it, and you ad mit it to yourself, then th ere's no point in being ou t there. But wh at do you repl ace it with?," he asks. "T he short and simp le answer is . th ere is nothing. Motorcycle racing is th e gr eatest th ing in the world." . By John J. Schiavone im Allen is an integral part of the road raci ng scene in America. As nation al roa d race coordinator for Du nl op Motorcycle Tires, Alle n can be found at every maj or race, li tera lly runnin g between teams to service their tir e . need s. For su re, part o f th a t motivati on stems from a loyalty to his emp loyer. But th e extra step in his stride, th e sincerity of hi s conversatio n , and h is genuine concern for rider safety clearly indica tes that J im Allen is dedicated to th e sport. " I love raci ng," Allen concedes. " I love seeing a guy develop into a racer and I enjoy being part of that , I really do. It 's probably wh at keeps me going in this crazy job. " Allen 's job is monumental considering that Dunlop is sponsoring most o f the to p team s in 1991. AMA National Championship Superbike Seri es clients include Commonwealth Honda, Van ce & Hines Yamaha, T eam Muzzy Kawasaki, Fast by Ferracci Ducati and Yoshimura Suzuki. La st seaso n, Dunlop won five National Champ ionships includin g AMA Superbike, 750 and 600cc Supersport, WERA Endurance and WERA Formula USA. At Daytona this year, Dunlop-shod racers won every major class including Superbike, 250cc GP, 750 and 600cc Supersport, Pro Twins GPI, GP2 and Harley-Davidson Twin Sport. T o make sure Dunlop cont inues to win races, Allen spends abo ut 60% of hi s time on the road. " It gets old after a while," Allen admits. " Bu t I really enjoy th e job, I lik e the people and I'm pleased with the support from Dunlop - they're absolutely committed to motorcycle racing." A typical race weekend begins with Allen's Thursday morning track arrival. He quickly determines that all tires are either at the track or safely in route. On Friday, Allen "service practices" by monitoring all tires and discussing Dunlop's p erformance with both riders and mechanics. The tools of his trade are rather simple - a stop watch , p en a n d paper, pressure gauge, pyrometer and durometer. A pyrometer is basi cally a thermometer that indica tes if a tir e is operating within the correc t temperature range. And a du rorn eter measu res the relat ive hardness of a compoun d, which hel ps to' determine grip. As th e weekend progresses, Allen's overall objective is to establish a race recommendation for Sunday'S fin al even ts. While street DOT tir es are stra ig h t forw ard, slick cho ices for wh at Allen ca lls the " racing classes" present a cha lle nge. " Hopefu lly by Saturday n ight I will kn ow what I'm go ing to do with the su perbikes and 250 GPs," Allen said. " T hey' re going to run on this front, this rear, and this will be th e pressures they 'll use." On race day, " it's just a matter of keeping trac k and hoping for th e best," Allen sa id with hi s trademark smile. " I lik e to keep track of lap times . .. for cont racted rid ers and for the privateers. We need to know what the privateers are doing because they're our cus tomers too. Maybe i t's tim e to di spel a m yth ," Alle n ' co n fesses. " T he re is no mon ey to be made in slick tires. I can tape a 10-doli ar bill to every slick we have here in the country and sent it o u t the door - that's how expensive it is to be involved in slick racing," J 20 T ha t 10-dollar bill would be a bonus to th e Averag e J oe wit h no estab lished tir e loyalty. The best avai lable Dunlop Su perb ike slicks will cost him 145an d $185, for fronts and rears respectively. How can these racers receive a dis count? " The most important aspects are loyalty to the prod uct and performan ce," Allen said . "If those two is something Allen has much experience with. Before Dunlop even had co ntracted riders in America , th e situa tio n was equall y sen sitive. " I' ve had to go to riders wh o . .. used our product all of the tim e and say: 'Ma n, we just don 't have it today. The safest and best thing .. . to get good performan ce, is to go and buy Goodyear. ' T hat's tough , but I think you get som e respec t .. . the next day he'll come back and say: 'I'll give Dunlop ano ther try - they shoot stra ig h t' . . . That's wha t I try to do. " Allen 's abili ty to " shoo t straig h t" stems from his bac kground as a racer. Born in Toro nto , Canada, he was Allen event ually found a suitable repl acement for racing. Whil e " bangin g nails and bu ilding houses" with Rich Schlachter, an accomplished road ra cer from New England, All en responded to a bl ind ad in Cycle N ews. After interviewing with Tony Mills, Allen found himself moving to Buffalo, and working for Dunlop Motorcycle Tires as a handling and stability ' test rider. Allen 's responsibilities increased as Dunlop beca me more invo lved with m o to rcycl e racing in Am eri ca. " I always th ou gh t I kn ew some th ing abo ut tires," he sa id. " As it turned o ut, I kne w nothin g." To in crease hi s un derstanding o f ti re technol og y, Alle n work ed as a constru ctio n engineer with Dunlop's tire development grou p. H e became invo lved in the first K81 R compounds and progr essed th rou gh the develop ment of Dunlop's 291, 391 and 591 tires. With a solid background in both racing and ' testing, Jim Allen app recia tes th e valuable feedba ck provided by a good test pilot, " A good test rid er is one th at will .. . very quickly get down to the capa bilities of the bike and th e tir e within 10 percent . . . and he'll move o n to the next tire and do th e same thing, " All en explains. "Doug Pol en and Kenny Roberts are two of the best test riders we've ever had ... Randy Renfrow a n d Dav e Sad owski also come to mind. Doug Pol en ha s a kna ck for it, he has a fantasti c memory for the compounds and casings .... he used years ago. (Their ability to test tires) comes from a dedication to personal success and a feeling of partnership with the tire company. " Tire testing played a maj or role in the preparation for this year 's Daytona 200. In December, Dunlop came to Daytona with over 50 different tire co mbina tio ns to test - and over half were Superbike rear slicks . Allen is stra igh t forward about Dunlop 's objective: "T o co me up with th e fastest and safest tir e we can. The mo st difficult application is the superbike rears . There's a good broad safety margin in most of the tires, but superbikes - and if we go back to the TZ750 - hav e alwa ys been a problem . . . wh en you start going fast. So we want a tire that's grippy and safe, and gets everyone home with a good ride." Information from December's test session was communicated to Dunlop engineers who used their bla ck magi c to produce new race, as well as street tir es. Wit h today 's ad vanced technol ogy, the di fferences between ' the two tires are beco ming neg ligi ble. " It 's now a t the po int that what we do (o n th e track) for 1991, will be on the street for 1992," Allen said . " T he mat eri als in o u r Sportrn ax stree t tire, for in stan ce, are . . . used in very similar fashion to o ur racing slicks. Compounds will cha nge, but casing materi al s are ver y si m ila r, alm o st identical. " Despite the many hours spent testing, Dunlop enco un tered unexpected problem s during th e first 50-mile Superbike qualifyin g race at Daytona. An o verhea ting problem caused th e front-runn ers to slow their pace, while J amie James actually had to m ak e an unsch eduled tire change. The overheating problem also forced Michelinshod Freddie Spencer to mak e a stopand-go check of h is unmanageable rear tire. " It was a disappo int ment and some wh at of a surprise," admits Allen . " T his is obvio usly not a safe situation ... and with the seco nd heat race ju st about . to start . . . it would be totally irrespo nsible to us to leave those

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