[Bruce Robles]

Johan
Those tools were a nessessity, and your right they can screw up a center lug. But so can air guns such as the ones used in the IRL and CART.

We built our own, and made the ears not so long that you'd get a ton of torgue with every blow of the hammer. We also put a center pin in the socket that fit a little loose from snug inside the hub to keep the tool lined up straight with the hub. This helped keep damage to the nuts to a minimum.

I don't remember ever having a problem getting a wheel off, or having one come off, for that matter in the years I was involved with the CAN-Am and F-5000. We would replace the nuts with new one's throughout the season so that helps to.

I still have the (knockers) as we called them, and one for the fronts on a Mclaren M8F came in handy getting a tempermental Left Rear off a LOLA INDY Lights car after a qualifying session at Phoenix in 1995.

Never throw away a tool, ya just never know.