1965
GASTONIA • NORTH CAROLINA
VOLUME XIV - NUMBER 9
AUGUST • 1965
Tir«$ton«
F
Your Symbol
of Quality
and Service
Tubeless Tires:
Revolution in Stock-Car Racing
THE
FIRESTONE
WORLD
Looking
Around From Camp Firestone
Hillcountry
Chimney Corner;
Relic Market
August brings the splendor
waning summer to the
Southern Highlands, and in
lower Appalachia you find
outdoor sightseeing es
pecially inviting.
Camp Firestone at Bridge
water is this year in its 30th
Reason of providing employ
ees and their families variety
“leave-cares-behind” rec-
*^eation. On Lake James in
heart of the storied Blue
Hidge Playground Country,
camp is in an area rich
scenic beauty and folk-
Ways.
• Down many a road from
^amp Firestone you’ll see
traces of a bygone pioneering
era in such things as early
homesteads, or restorations
like the one belonging to this
chimney corner a few miles
from Mount Mitchell.
o Handicrafts, native arts
and old things (sometimes
called relics or ‘rulics’) are
also a hallmark of the region.
So, a familiar sight is the
combination crafts-antiques
store, this one near Bakers-
ville. Firestone News photos
United Fund Seeks $248,556.21 In Autumn Campaign
A long record of growing,
'unselfish sharing by employ
ees of the Firestone Gastonia
plant is expected to reach
J^^ew heights this year, as the
greater Gastonia United
^Und seeks a goal of $248,-
^53.21 in its financial-sup-
Port effort.
For more than 10 years of
sharing in the communi-
' wide health-recreation-wel-
program, Firestone people
^ave contributed a major share
the operating funds for par
ticipating UF agencies and serv
ices.
Over the years, emp'oyees
^Sve increased pledges through
Payroll deduction until in 1964,
Contributions reached a record
^23,425.
The goal of almost a quarter
i^illion dollars this year for the
Campaign beginning October 5,
is a 6.4 p3r cent increase over
the expenditure figure for last
year.
At a midsummer UF budget
committee meeting, 28 partici
pating agencies were listed.
Serving on the 23-man budget
committee was P. R. Williams
Jr., Firestone division manager.
As in past years, a number
of Firestone people are volun
teering to work in the UF cam
paign this fall. Sti’l others here
serve in volunteer leadership
jobs with the UF the year
round.
Firestone production manager
F. B. Galligan led last year’s UF
Pay Hilte Effective In July
The yearly increase of
$260,000 purchasing power of
employees at the Gastonia
plant, coming through the
most recent wage increase,
would more than purchase
every wage-earner here a lot
for a h’deaway on Lake Nor
man—or somewhere else.
Or, to take some more tan
gible examples — that much
money would pay for 20
homes at $13,000 apiece, or it
would provide one family of
four members with 8,667
weeks of groceries.
The pay increase which
was effective in mid-July,
was the third general wage
adjustment at Firestone Tex
tiles in less than two years.
Tubeless tires were developed for the motoring public
10 years ago. Now they are revolutionizing the stock-car
racing sport. In competition of late. Firestone’s new Stock
Car “800” tubeless tires were the talk of the tracks. Drivers
at the Darlington Rebel “300”, the Bristol, Tenn. 250-miler,
and the Charlotte World 600 praised the tires for their safety
features and increased speed.
Tubeless lires have become
almoit universal in passenger
cars. Just about all of the new
cars are equipped with them.
Of all passenger tires made by
the industry last year, 92 per
cent of them were tubeless.
A Firestone development
which makes rims airtight per
mits use of tubeless tires. Be
fore this, welded rims demand
ed that tires have tubes.
Drivers are hailing the inner-
tire development of Firestone
too. Many of them, like Johns,
say they will run the life-pro-
tector tire on the right front
and tubeless tire on the other
wheels.
Bestos Plant Grows
Major modernization and ex
pansion of the company’s World
Bestos subsidiary at New Castle,
Ind., is underway. The WB di
vision mnnufaoturos brake lin
ing and other friction materials.
Expansion will more than
triple passenger-car brake lining
production and substantially in-
more on page 2
Seven Films
Circulating
Seven 16-mm sound movies
are available at no cost other
than return postage, to schools,
clubs, churches and neighbor
hood groups through Fire
stone’s visual-aids program.
The company’s department of
public relations latest catalog
lists the seven films, all of
which have been cleared for
television and may be obtain
ed free for telecast. They are:
The Short Way Around—^The
Indianapolis 500 1965 auto race.
African Rhythms—Sights and
sounds of Liberia.
From This Land—The role of
rubber-tired machines in har
vesting crops.
Through a Rear-View Mirror
—Reminiscing on the develop
ment of the automobile and its
place in American life.
Challenge—Story of Art Ar-
fons’ world land speed record
at Bonneville Salt Flats.
A Changing Liberia—Docu
mentary on the new Liberia,
her history, culture and prog
ress.
Riverside-Atlanta 500—Stock
cars in action at Riverside, Cali
fornia, and Atlanta, Georgia.
The free films are distributed
from five regional offices of As
sociation Films. For further in
formation on the firms, inquire
at the Gastonia industrial re
lations office.
At Darlington, four of the
first five finishers were equip
ped with Firestone tubeless
tires, including winner Junior
Johnson. At Bristol, the first
five finishers were on Fire
stones, and several of those tires
were tubeless.
At Charlotte, the tire passed
the supreme test as Fred Lo-
renzen drove his Firestone-
equipped 1965 Ford to victory.
He met no tire trouble in the
race as air temperatures rose to
89 and the lV2-mile track reach
ed 120 degrees.
“In the past, race drivers
have proven new tires which
later benefited the public,” says
Don Wilhelm of Firestone’s tire-
development department. “With
the tubeless tire, the public us
ed it first and the race drivers
inherited it.” He notes that the
Firestone 800 Stock Car line in
cludes:
1. The new tubeless tire
2. The “800” with life-pro-
tector inner tire
3. The “800” with conventional
tube
The life-protector diaphragm
tire has been track-proved also.
Bobby Johns, fifth-placer at
Darlington, drove the race on
three tubeless tires and a dou
ble-duty tire on the right front.
Wilhelm explains why tube
less tires are safer than those
with tubes:
“When a tubeless tire runs
over a sharp object which punc
tures it or when it wears to a
point where it fails, the air
leaves the tire slower than when
similar troubles develop with a
tube-type tire.”
contributions drive. The gift
figure of $248,649, which went
beyond the set goal, is roughly
the amount to be sought this
year for the 1966 UF operating
funds.
AGENCIES and services shar
ing in the United Fund pro
gram: American National Red
Cross Gaston Chapter, Boy
Scouts of America Piedmont
Council, Cerebral Palsy Founda
tion, Family Services, Gaston
Boys Club, Gaston Skills, Gas
ton Live-Saving Crew, Gaston
Big Brothers, Gaston Mental
Health Clinic, Gaston County
YMCA.
Gaston Association for Re
tarded Children, Girl Scouts of
America Pioneer Area Council,
Junior Optimist Boys Club, The
Salvation Army, Salvation
Army Boys Club, State UF
budget plan and UF office.