This item is appearing in our Rumors section for several reasons. As you read through this brief story you’ll realize there’s more than a nugget of truth to it. But, because we’ve been unable (as of yet) to nail down exactly who’s involved, it appears here rather than in the News section. Rumor has it that the number of teams involved is eight.

On Friday at Indy CompetitionPlus.com was informed by a leading Pro Stock driver that some of his peers were reportedly using large tire machines to spin up and then shave the tread area of their Goodyear Eagles. They are reportedly shaving as much as 3 lbs. off each tire. “What I’m worried about is one of these guys blowing a tire next to me and T-boning me right in the door,” he said.

The reason for shaving the tires is reportedly so they’ll spin up faster. Less weight to turn would make that easier. Yes, that would prove to be performance advantage, but at what potential cost?

We spoke with the Goodyear engineers on site, who said they hadn’t heard about tire-shaving for the last several years. We were told there’s enough tread depth on the Eagle Pro Stock tire that an outright failure probably wouldn’t happen. They wouldn’t rule it out entirely, but did say it was unlikely.

Interestingly, several racers as well as the Goodyear engineers wondered aloud as to whether or not there’s a rule against altering tires in any physical manner in the book. A senior NHRA official questioned on the topic acknowledged he didn’t know and would have to check. We certainly don’t know either, but we’ll definitely follow up so this rumor can be moved from this location into the News section.