Goodyear Eagle tire is still a legend on racetracks around the world. And will always be, forever

Combine an unbeaten record in Formula 1, countless wins at Daytona, Le Mans and Indianapolis, and one of motorsport’s longest supplier-championship partnerships, and you have the makings of a truly impressive legacy. Goodyear tires have been winning races for over a century and its leadership in the sport and success around the world have firmly planted the Goodyear name as one of racing’s greatest brands. But, to Goodyear, racing is more than winning on the track; it’s about driving technology forward.

In honor of its 45th anniversary, Goodyear celebrates the achievements that have made Eagle one of the most successful tires in motorsport – starting a heritage that continues to race today both in the World Endurance Championship and NASCAR.

An American icon

Almost as soon as The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was founded in 1898, its tires were winning races. Henry Ford chose Goodyear for his car that won a one-mile Detroit Driving Club race in 1901. From there, Goodyear’s race to road ethos was born with a series of innovations developed after a busy schedule of pioneering races: the first of many times that racing learnings translated to Goodyear road tires.

Even in these early formative years of motorsport, Goodyear knew the race track was the ultimate proving ground for car and tire performance, and used its expertise across the North American racing scene to develop the next generation of tire technology. This philosophy continued at pace as Goodyear entered the burgeoning stock car racing arena  of NASCAR in 1954.

After considerable success in North America, Goodyear’s first international win came in 1965 when Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt took their Ferrari 250 LM to victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Then, a few months later, Richie Ginther won the Mexican Grand Prix. These two successes on the world stage kickstarted a dominant period for Goodyear tires racing on both sides of the Atlantic. 

From Akron to the world: The ‘Triple Crown’ story  

Motorsport fans know 1966 as the year of the famous Ford vs Ferrari battle at Le Mans, which was recently brought to the big screen by Hollywood as a tale of two automotive powerhouses going head-to-head for glory. Ford’s win, with Goodyear tires, ignited a period of success for the Detroit brand, and was Goodyear’s second victory at Le Mans, in a year that Jack Brabham took four Grand Prix race wins with Goodyear to earn his final - but Goodyear’s first - Formula 1 World Championship.  

To many, the ‘Triple Crown’ is celebrated as motorsport’s greatest achievement. To claim this unofficial accolade, a driver must win three immensely different but equally prestigious races: the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the Monaco Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500. In 1972, Graham Hill became the first - and, to this day, only - driver to complete the set. But if there were a Triple Crown for tires, Goodyear would be far above the competition. 

A.J. Foyt had a monumental couple of weeks in summer 1967. On May 31, he took the lead of the Indianapolis 500 with just four laps to go, securing Goodyear’s first win in that race in almost half a century. Less than two weeks later, on June 11, he and Dan Gurney crossed the line to take what remains to this day as the only all-American victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans: two American drivers, an American team (Shelby), American chassis and engine manufacturer (Ford) and, of course, American tires: Goodyear. 

Combined with Denny Hulme’s Monaco Grand Prix victory in 1967, which he followed up by being crowned F1 World Champion later in the year, Goodyear became the first tire manufacturer to win motorsport’s Triple Crown, a feat it would go on to complete on seven more occasions between 1973 and 1994. No other tire manufacturer can match this success: only one other has won the Triple Crown, but only on one occasion, and Goodyear is the only one to have combined it with the F1 drivers’ championship, too. 

If there were a Quadruple Crown, combining Le Mans, Monaco, Indianapolis with the Daytona 500, Goodyear would still be the only tire manufacturer able to claim it - counting no fewer than seven occasions including a four-year run in 1973 to 1976. 

Goodyear tires won Monaco and the F1 championship 23 more times each between 1971 and 1997, the Indy 500 every year between 1972 and 1995, and Le Mans ten more times during the 70s, 80s and 90s. With three decades of domination in the world’s most prestigious races, the brand from Akron had become one of the most recognisable names in motorsport.  

The Eagle has landed: Race-winning tires for performance road drivers 

It was during this period that Goodyear decided to invest further into high performance road tires as the sports cars of the day began to demand more and more from their only contact patches with the road. Technology transfer between the brand’s racing success and popular road tires had been fundamental for decades already, ever since those first races in the early 1900s, but the company understood that it needed a recognisable product name to communicate this and entice drivers around the world. In 1980, Goodyear Eagle was born.

With ‘Goodyear Eagle’ printed in the Goodyear logotype on the sidewall of every racing tire it produced, and the same name on its high-performance tires that were the choice of OEMs such as Ferrari, Chevrolet and Ford, the link between track and road was clearer than ever. And Goodyear Eagle tires were still racking up win after win on the track. Up until 2007, Formula 1 never had an exclusive tire supplier but, in many seasons, Goodyear Eagle tires were the choice of every team on the grid, such was the brand’s leadership in the sport. To this date, no brand has surpassed Goodyear’s total of 368 Formula 1 Grand Prix wins. 

In 2024, Goodyear celebrated an historic milestone: 70 years as the official tire of NASCAR. It is a partnership that began with the brand’s first NASCAR tire test at Darlington Raceway in 1954 and has progressed through innovations including the racing slick in 1972, radial tire in 1989, multi-zone tread design in 2013 and current 18-inch tire spec for NASCAR’s Next Gen stock car. As the official and sole tire supplier to NASCAR’s three national series since 1997, Goodyear today produces more than 100,000 tires by hand every year at its Akron, Ohio, base to service one of motorsport’s most iconic and long-standing supplier-championship partnerships. 

Goodyear’s return to international racing was celebrated with its first LMP2 class victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship 4 Hours of Shanghai in November 2019, which was followed up by a long-awaited return to Le Mans in 2020.   

This initial return to Le Mans-style international endurance racing started as a supplier to the WEC and European Le Mans Series LMP2 prototype class, then as its exclusive tire supplier and, since 2024, the exclusive tire supplier to the new LMGT3 category.   

This season, cars representing nine manufacturers - Aston Martin, BMW, Corvette, Ferrari, Ford, Lexus, McLaren, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche - are racing in some of the toughest endurance races on four continents, all with Goodyear Eagle. And, as the racing tires are manufactured in the same facility as the Eagle F1 SuperSport range of ultra-ultra-high-performance road tires, the link between the racetrack and the road in the Goodyear Eagle legacy has never been clearer. 

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About The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 68,000 people and manufactures its products in 53 facilities in 20 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.