Yeah Tommy many of our restorations have tires over 20 years old on them.Since the running average to retore or build a hot rod is about 10 years{mine take over 20 years to complete}and the first thing many people buy is shiny new tire and rims to roll the old hulk around,lots of them have old tires
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As for that burnout contst,lets fae it,the car was doing a one wheel burnout,so if the spedometer as reading 120mph,the tire as going 240 mph while burning out.Thats why it failed.Tire explosion even with the best tires is common in snowy states where drivers typicaly put the pedal to the floor and drive their way out of a snow bank even if it means racing the motor for so long the ngine overheats.
As for NOS tires,if you are going thru all that effort,chances are you are not going to drive the car anyway.I would think that guys who do that are tryng to pass of a restored car as an "original right down to the air in the tires" survivor.Having dry rot cracks in the sides of the tires just adds to he patina of a bionafide old car that has been sitting untouched by human hands fo ove 40 years.