What On Earth Could Cause This To Happen To A Wheel?

There have been a few times that we've posted some pictures and asked for people's opinions on what could have happened. There have been shredded tires, foreign objects, etc.

This is a new one for us. This is something that I have no idea where to begin with guesses. Check this picture out:

Mark Cunningham

Does anyone have any guesses or thoughts on what might have caused this? I don't even know where to begin. I assume that it might be possible to hit some kind of object hard enough to cause this kind of damage, but that's just me throwing a blind assumption out there.

If you have any thoughts feel free to let us know in the comments below. This is a time where the guys here at the station - myself included - are genuinely curious and would like to have an answer as to what happened to this tire.

Thanks in advance for any insight you guys could provide for us!