THIS is why.......
 

....safety equipment and gear is sooooo important. You have it to work 100% only that ONE time. The VERY SAME FORCES are involved no matter WHAT class / speed your in....

- Fact, shoulder harnesses can stretch as much as 3 - 5 inches.


While watching these, imagine what forces the human body is experiencing..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=...#91;/b]re=fvwp

It's always dazzled me when someone "Cheats" on rule required safety equipment in a race car of any kind. And in Drag Racing, especially the Brackets, too much is "Blown Off" as "overkill".

With our car (8.90's@160) you can't be safe enough. Even though it's a door car and we have the latest Net, we still use arm restraints on the left arm and this year we went to a HANS Device, even though it's not required below 175 mph.

Looking at history and experiments involving Speed and sudden stops, changes in direction, inverted flight, etc., we have seen that stopping suddenly from 40 mph to zero, when you're wearing a 4 lb helmet, even with a "Horse Collar" tends to cause serious, sometimes fatal Neck injuries. That makes me think that $250 is a really cheap way to keep your driver hollering for you to "Get him out of this Sumbich!" if he ever ground loops it . . We also have a 7.50 cert chassis, for the same reason . .

Safetywise, there's nothing we do that's worth getting even a hangnail over . . let alone getting killed . .

Amen RK. Those are some epic crashes there DD. Amazing when all that is left is a driver capsuled in a roll cage & the rest of car is scattered in pieces behind him everywhere.... I would be kissing the dirt & praising the lord if I walked away from any of those...

I was at Atlanta when Glidden crashed. He got out and covered his black box in a big hurry. When you have a tenth on the field for two years you know something was going on.

A few years later the father and son get busted for nitrous.

No comment, just stating the facts...

Watch the video:

http://www.dogfightmag.com/2011/02/k...n-i-was-young/

I think that's a bit inaccurate. Bob covered his intake, there was no "black box". If by father and son you're implying Bob and one of his boys I don't think that ever happened. I think it was Rusty that while using one of Bob's engines did use nitrous but was never busted for it. He admitted to it in a magazine article and IIRC he stated it was as much to prove it could be done and NHRA couldn't catch it, a statement his dad had made years earlier. I'm pretty sure this was done without Bob's approval.

I have a problem ( personally ) watching crash vids...I guess because of what I know will happen if I get in too deep at the MPH we run..I believe in good equipment including a Hans device. Even though there has been times I feel if I came to a sudden stop or went end over end it wouldn't matter anyway..If any of you ever lost down force at 160 MPH in 1/8th mile and the rear end unload u would understand that horrible helpless feeling.. Am I scared of these things. I say 1/8th because of how hard you gotta leave and pull to get to this MPH in less than 600ft ? You bet I am..everytime I strap in...so bring on saftey gear....now the certification IMO is OVERRATED...Why I say this is because its more centered on tube OD, wall thickness and SFI placement....not so much how its welded up. I have seen some 7.50 NHRA tagged stuff I would not let my worst enemy get in because of the piss poor welding, cold weld jumbled up bubble gum jobs.....if you ever been around good welding you develope a good eye for it which makes you become very critical of weld jobs in general . Don't get me wrong chassis cert is needed...just more in right places besides what I mentioned above...:shock:

This cert stuff has become a part of the BIG revenue maker for NHRA among other things..not to mention the SFI spec blueprint you have to purchase to find out what changes they made this year to keep you having to come back and buy the spec blueprint...If THEY were so concerned with your safety from a ET cert one would think this info would be available to anyone at anytime NO CHARGE. Case in point.

There was a gun drilled motor plate.