I'm a chicken, when I punctured a brand new slick last summer(8" long threaded rod laying on Norwalk's race surface ) on the 2nd pass I waited til I had the money to buy a new slick. I tried for a year to sell that slick for $20 and ended up throwing it away. It really sucked since I race on such a tight budget but I'm a freak about safety. Sounds like the plugs/patches work pretty well though.

Any of the slick manufacturers will tell you to never repair a slick with either a patch or a plug. I have patched a slick in the past, the trick is NOT grinding on the inside surface of the slick. I cleaned it really, really good many times with laquer thinner and let it dry. The patch held for over a year until I changed slicks but then again it's NOT recommended.

while my old coronet was not in your league (12.0's 1.65 60 foot) I ran over something on the way to the track, had to sit by the air compress between rounds, won the entire even, drove my big butt trophey home on a slick going down, took the tire up to the local gas station, they did the roughing up the inside, used somekind of glue and patch kit and hit it w/ a torch. Lasted that season and one more before I sold the car. They were M/T ET streets.

I had a nail go through a 28x12.5 ET Street on my car several years ago and did not have tubes in them at the time. I used a normal plug like I use on my lawnmower. Ran it for a long time after that, until the tire was worn out, and never had any problems.

Patch the inside and use a heat gun to vulcanize it never failed yet. Also never have seen a tire plug installed correctly fail? I have used them dozens of times on tires subjected to tremendous loads.I believe in safety first so if cut is bigger the 1/4 in get rid of it if not patch plug it or tube it. and don't run under 12 lbs of air if they are a street rated tire

We plug them all the time without issue whatsoever.