Drag Illustrated Issue 114, October 2016 | Page 102

MICKEY THOMPSON’S
TOMMY KUNDRIK ALWAYS
KNEW DRAG RADIALS
WERE THE FUTURE
BY JOSH HACHAT

DEAD

HOOKED
PHOTOGR APH BY KE VIN COX

ommy Kundrik is living his
dream. But on a memorable
January morning with Barry Mitchell at
Bradenton Motorsports Park, Kundrik, the
Motorsports Manager at Mickey Thompson
Tires, definitely thought he was dreaming. It
was also a day that not only changed his life but
changed the course of drag radial racing. “We
had lost the market to Hoosier and we went in
there for one test with three specs of tires,” Kundrik said. “Barry Mitchell at the time was running really fast.
He had really fast 60-foots, like 1.13 and 1.14. We
put the Hoosier on the car because we always do
back-to-backs against our competition. He puts
it on and blows the tire off. He goes out again
and blows the tire off. 

102 | D r a g

I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com

“I’m just like, ‘Let’s put these on and see what’s
going on.’ Well, the thing goes out there, and
nothing touched the track and it was definitely
a hotter part of the day, and the guy goes 1.10
60-foot and goes down the racetrack. I’m like,

‘What the hell? No way.’ 
“We put the Hoosier back on and it blows the
tire off again. We put our tire back on and it goes
down the racetrack, 1.10 60-foot. I was like, ‘You
gotta be kidding me.’ There’s no way we hit this
thing dead on first time. It’s that much better
than the competition where theirs is spinning
and ours is trying to drag the bumper off the
thing going 1.10 60-foot. 
“So, we waited ‘till the next day and ran the
same test again,” he continued. “Prep the racetrack, put the Hoosier on and he goes like a 1.15.
He puts ours on, 1.10 60-foot again.”
Stunned as Kundrik was, it wasn’t a dream and
the story, at least some version of it, was out by
the end of the day.
It didn’t take long for it to spread, as evidenced
by a sudden rash of calls at the Mickey Thompson
office, all the while Kundrik was trying to take
in what had just taken place. The world of drag
radial racing was growing at a phenomenal rate
and by all appearances, Kundrik and his team,
which now features nine different people and five
different semi trucks that travel to races across
the country, had come across a potential game

Issue 114