Did you Know...

I had a nail in my daily commuters tire yesterday, so I ran over to our local tire and wheel shop called Brodies. I guess they specialize in Firestone tires, because they had a big semi truck there with a Mario Andretti Formula One race car, and a race car simulator.
So while the tire was getting fixed I chatted with one of the Firestone guys, who was telling me about the Formula One car. I guess it was one of Andettti's training cars, minus the engine.
Here's the interesting part...the engines are leased to the race car team by either Honda or GMC. Since the car wasn't racing, they get the engine back. Now for the real wild stuff, the tires are leased from Firestone to the race team. I thought what? He said each tire is bar coded to each driver and race. The temperatures it reaches as well as tread wear, and other technical stuff is all recorded and analyzed. Each tire has only 3/32" rubber, so running diagonaly across the smooth surface are these little circles to measure tire tread left. He said at each race the Firestone team changes out the tires, not the crew. Pretty interesting stuff.

This makes more sense to me I found this article on Firestone teaming up with Dreamworks for the new Turbo movie
Bridgestone and DreamWorks team-up
The alliance between Bridgestone’s Firestone brand and DreamWorks Animation will give Firestone customers an early opportunity to engage with the new film Turbo.
Firestone Racing tires are heavily featured in the movie, which is partly set at the Indy 500. The filmmakers have worked closely with Bridgestone Americas’ Motorsports, and Firestone Racing engineers to understand the technology and behind-the-scenes workings of the race tires to ensure accuracy and authenticity for the high-velocity movie.
“We saw the opportunity to align with DreamWorks Animation to tell the story of a speedy snail who dreams of competing in the Indy 500 as a natural extension of our commitment to help introduce the sport to a new generation of race fans,” said a Bridgestone America’s spokesperson. “Turbo’s perseverance, values and spirit align perfectly with Firestone’s legacy in IndyCar racing and at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
The Firestone European website, point-of-sale material and novelties will support the activity. “Firestone is an iconic brand which has been present in Europe since the 1930s. It is still very well known to people – especially in the South – for its racing activities in Formula 1, Le Mans 24-hour and IndyCar. This movie and the sponsorship package offer us the perfect platform to put Firestone on the map again”, said Jake Rønsholt, general manager, corporate and brand communications, Bridgestone Europe.