Jim, this is a really good point. I'm positive it's not to do with
Hoosier directly, but rather the Hoosier West distributor. I guess we
are fortunate to have them come out, and that's a good thing. But I
have also noticed they are not big on service or helpfulness. By
contrast the Kumho truck that usually goes to the SD Tour comes directly
from CUT/Vilven Tire, which is I believe one of the main distributors
for Kumho USA. Those guys, especially Mike Taylor, are absolutely
unbelievable in the service they provide and the extra effort they will
go thru to make sure you're ready to race. They go beyond just selling
tires and actually provide support. One small example is that they will
mount/balance absolutely anything that involves a Kumho product on one
end or the other for free, whereas Hoosier West will charge you for
everything.
I don't really know what to say- it's nice to have
mounting/balancing/credit card burning capability at the event sites,
but anyone who knows and deals with Hoosier West frequently should
politely hint to them that a little extra effort and a smile goes a long
way to bringing loyal customers.
Personally, I wonder if the two different business models of Hoosier and
Kumho have something to deal with the emphasis on service. Kumho is a
fairly new brand in the US, they are trying to establish market share
for everything from performance to light truck tires. Racing is a great
way for them to build the brand, and I think it works. We maybe a
"fringe" group, but we buy a lot of tires and not all of them for
racing. We're more likely to tell our enthusiast friends and colleagues
to buy Kumho having had a good experience with them on the track. I
doubt Kumho is in racing to make profit off of racing, but rather to
build their brand. I think this is shown by their support of many
national Solo2 drivers, excellent event support, and their swift and
full accountability for the V710 safety issue. It makes perfect sense-
if you're a big tire manufacturer and you can't make happy racing
customers, don't go racing!
Hoosier on the other hand may sell some passenger tires but I'll bet a
bigger chunk of their business is in racing. They want to build the
fastest product, and you're supposed to pay for it because you want to
win. But they need to look over their shoulder because eventually the
V710 is going to be back, hopefully better than ever.
Peter
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