In motor racing, tires with no tread. They adhere to the carefully-groomed asphalt of a track much better than conventional treaded tires to, but work very poorly in any other circumstances. This is why your car doesn't use slick tires.

In spite of the tread pattern not being an issue with racing tires like this, differing rubber compounds for different track conditions make choosing tires an important part of practice for any given race. In addition, tires from different manufacturers feel different, so it's a big deal, when, say, factory SBK team "X" switches from Metzeler to Dunlop, or Pirelli.