They took the squeal out of passenger tires? Tell that to my CRX the next time it's taking a cloverleaf at 55mph ;)

Racing tires are made of very soft rubber. The softness makes them stick more than a hard tire, but that translates into more of the tire being scrubbed off by the pavement, which is why they have to change them all the time. . .It's a lot like erasers. . .those pink ones we all used back in grade school are harder than a gum eraser and will slide across the paper easier than a gum eraser. They'll also leave less eraser bits on the paper.

Unfortunately, the soft rubber means they smoke like crazy when you spin because the rubber burns off lots quicker than with a harder tire. (next time you see a wreck on the highway, notice that there won't be much (if any) smoke from the tires if they spin out)

The only way to eliminate this smoke would be to make a harder compound, which would translate into reduced handling, which would send everyone into the wall. (this would improve TV ratings immensely, but make for very angry drivers ;)

they ought to make a HUD like they're putting on some of the new cadillacs, which uses infrared to see through fog/smoke/dark and project an image of what's ahead onto a 4 inch strip at the bottom of the windshield.