{"id":102766,"date":"2025-10-03T09:46:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=102766"},"modified":"2025-10-03T09:46:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T16:46:23","slug":"whats-next-for-nhra-funny-car-tethers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/whats-next-for-nhra-funny-car-tethers\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Next for NHRA Funny Car Tethers?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
The remains of Matt Hagan\u2019s Reading crash of his Tony Stewart Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat – ESPN photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Funny Car tethers are the latest issue that the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tech department has to look into. With some exceptional explosions occurring in the class and tethered bodies causing drivers to be blinded when their massive bodywork cascades upward, everyone in the class agrees something has to be done .<\/p>\n

Explosions in nitro classes happen fairly regularly. Since crew chiefs are constantly striving to extract the most horsepower they can while keeping the car\u2019s engine together through the burnout, backup and race down the 1,000-foot track, sometimes they succeed; sometimes they fail. In the latter case, bodies have nowhere to go while tethered to the chassis, other than upward interfering with the cabin portion of the car.<\/p>\n

This year during the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals, Jim Dunn Racing pilot Buddy Hull was injured when the engine exploded on his Dodge Charger and impacted his hand as the bodywork entered his cabin. That incident occurred in late July and Hull hasn\u2019t been able to race since as he recovers. Similar issues, including explosions the same weekend for Daniel Wilkerson\u2019s Ford Mustang, have caused crew chief discussions about tethering to become louder, with everyone examining ideas they think could work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tethers have been part of the NHRA Funny Car scene since John Force Racing\u2019s Robert Hight had an engine explode during the April 2013 four-wide race at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte, NC. After the body catapulted off the car, going outside the racetrack, NHRA decided it was a safety measure to install dual front-latch tethers on these machines. The use of Funny Car tethers has, since then, been an on-and-off affair, as they were required through the end of the previous decade and then off the cars for a bit before being returned to mandatory use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Funny Car racer Johnny Gray – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the Sonoma race in 2013, Johnny Gray (working with Don Schumacher Racing) suffered a similar issue with an engine explosion, and with tethers installed, the bodywork rose and came back towards him. Unable to see the car he was attempting to stop, Gray was fortunate in that he wasn\u2019t injured and that he finally came to a halt. Tethers had been mandated a race earlier, for Bandimere Speedway as Sonoma was the second of three Western Swing NHRA dates. Gray\u2019s incident occurred one-third into his 1,000-foot run; as the tethers brought the body back down, it blew the firewall up over the windshield and made it impossible for the driver to exit through the roof, which is the customary departure route.<\/p>\n

Twelve years ago, Johnny Gray considered himself the NHRA\u2019s \u201c60-year-old guinea pig\u201d for the new tethering anchors to Funny Car bodies. Since then, there have been plenty more incidents, including the ones occurring this summer, twelve years after tethers were mandated.<\/p>\n

Massive fiberglass bodies hurtling into the driver cage is not an optimal look for NHRA, but it\u2019s being smart in letting the crew chiefs come up with a variety of solutions before they all get together – hopefully after the season closer in mid-November – to find a logical solution that will work for the variety of bodies currently in use: Chevrolet SS (exclusive to John Force Racing at the current time), Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, Ford Mustang\/Shelby and Toyota GR Supra. With the latter manufacturer slated to leave NHRA at the close of this season, it\u2019s unknown whether that body will be permitted to continue in competition without manufacturer support.<\/p>\n

Some bright minds are lending their talents to fix this issue, which has been brought to the fore by news magazine CompetitionPlus<\/a><\/strong>. <\/i>The magazine spoke with car owner\/crew chief Jim Head<\/a><\/strong>, recognized as one of the more dedicated individuals to innovative safety in the NHRA pits. He\u2019s been publicly joined by Tim Wilkerson, working with chassis designer\/manufacturer Murf McKinney. John Force Racing\u2019s fabrication shop is also looking into different ways to secure the body so that it doesn\u2019t slam into the cockpit and hurt the driver; the fact that Buddy Hull still isn\u2019t able to compete after suffering a hand injury shortly before Top Fuel\u2019s Shawn Reed had his own accident that cost him a left index finger means safety needs to be more important than racking up points.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Buddy Hull\u2019s Jim Dunn Racing Dodge before it exploded at Sonoma – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Being unable to see what\u2019s ahead at 300+ speeds is a serious issue. While Hull\u2019s issues have kept him out of the cockpit, there have been other explosions – notably Tony Stewart Racing Funny Car driver Matt Hagan\u2019s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat engine failure in the first Countdown to the Championship playoff race at Maple Grove Raceway. After the four-time champion\u2019s explosion, noise about tethers grew louder and even more concerned. Of course prime directives are to keep fiberglass pieces away from the paying public as well as from the racers.<\/p>\n

There are different ways of producing race cars and, depending on the manufacturer, burst panel sizing can be of varying sizes and locations. With different burst-panel sizes, a single solution just isn\u2019t in the cards.<\/p>\n

Every crew chief knows that tethering is essential, but as speeds have increased and lap times have gone down, a new look at the composition of tethers, their mounting places and the manner in which they deflect bodies from entering the cockpit and pushing towards the driver have to be reexamined. While tethering was removed from mandating at the start of this decade, they are essential safety items. They simply need some massaging to stop them from contributing to accidents in the class.<\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve seen, with current tethering, fixing the problem of bodies flying out of the realm of the two- and four-lane tracks is something that must be done, but it can lead to other issues. With the bodywork rising to the level of impeding driver visibility, leaving them blinded, the next big challenge is to find the right way to tether so that the bodies don\u2019t rise and blind the driver, something NHRA has been dealing with since those pair of 2013 crashes for Hight and Gray.<\/p>\n

The solutions are easier said than done.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When bodies continued to fly off cars in the latter stages of the previous decade, NHRA\u2019s tech department allowed teams to remove their tethers. They could keep them or remove them; at that time no mandates were given.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Daniel Wilkerson exploded engines at Sonoma but escaped without injury – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the solutions currently being offered are venting systems that could control where energy went after an engine explosion. A couple of years ago, as CompetitionPlus.com<\/i> uncovered<\/a><\/strong>, Tim Wilkerson and Murf McKinney started talking about a venting system to control exactly where energy went when an explosion occurred. They produced a stove pipe that controlled the air around an explosion, directing air into the stove pipe that went halfway up Wilkerson\u2019s Ford Mustang side window. The solution had an added benefit: Wilkerson\u2019s Ford was quicker, with the window opened a bit to help vent that air. NHRA listened to teams that protested their invention and \u201cmade me close the windows, so the air couldn\u2019t get through there anymore,\u201d Wilkerson told competitionplus.com<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

The duo also produced a V-dash, which allowed a lower center of gravity and could hep keep visibility clear. On one occasion, he had a valve exit the head \u201cand it coughed really bad, just like a normal explosion,\u201d Wilkerson said. That incident blew out both side windows and\u00a0 <\/span>a portion of the bodywork, but the body itself never left the chassis. He thinks that solution might help.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to come up with a better system,\u201d noted Jimmy Prock, crew chief to son Austin at John Force Racing, which is dedicating this time between races to working on the tethering issue at their Brownsburg, IN workshops. \u201cWe can\u2019t take them off the cars because we can\u2019t have bombs flying into the stands.\u201d Prock knows some of the great minds in NHRA racing are looking into the issue and hunting for the right solutions. He thinks a new way to attach the dash nearer the firewall might be of assistance, but he also knows that, \u201cBottom line: when we have a massive explosion we have to find a way to contain it and keep the body out of the driver\u2019s face. We just can\u2019t raise the body to the point where a driver can\u2019t see what\u2019s ahead\u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jimmy Prock tunes son Austin\u2019s John Force Racing Chevrolet SS – Anne Proffit photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What\u2019s been happening with all of this is, obviously, unintended circumstances. The driver has to be able to see what\u2019s ahead and to the side of them, even though they can feel when their competitor is close. Prock wants to see more input on the location of the dash inside a Funny Car. \u201cWe could find a different way to attach the dash nearer the firewall, to hold the center down so it buckles in the middle. Just hold it down a little better in the center,\u201d he mused. Would that be the V dash?<\/span><\/p>\n

Whatever latching system the series decides to implement, it has to be operable and safe for both the driver and the spectators. Prock believes that massive explosions will continue due to a variety of indicators, whether they be performance oriented or not. \u201cThe bottom line is that we have to keep the body out of the driver\u2019s face. We need to find a different way to attach the dash, whether it would be smarter to move it one direction or the other, left to right, or simply attach it closer to the firewall or to a window.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because there are ideas out there, the best solution or solutions shouldn\u2019t be activated during the remaining four Countdown to the Championship playoff races; rather, all the racers contacted believe that there needs to be a meeting of the minds to discuss this issue, once the current, 74th NHRA season has been completed in mid-November. But one thing in reaching a solution is essential: it can\u2019t be done in an NHRA vacuum, where only the tech department has access to and rationales for a good conclusion to this issue. It has to be a community decision after careful, knowledgeable discussion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Funny Car tethers are the latest issue that the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series tech department has to look into. With some exceptional explosions occurring in the class and tethered bodies causing drivers to be blinded when their massive bodywork cascades upward, everyone in the class agrees something has to be done.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":102747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3465,3470,5029],"tags":[9456,574,1858,11310,423,178,9966,7,440,862,12618,800],"class_list":["post-102766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-news","category-racing","tag-buddy-hull","tag-don-schumacher-racing","tag-jim-dunn-racing","tag-jim-head-racing","tag-john-force-racing","tag-johnny-gray","tag-mission-foods-drag-racing-series","tag-nhra","tag-robert-hight","tag-sonoma-raceway","tag-wilkerson-racing","tag-zmax-dragway"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Hagans-wrecked-car-courtesy-ESPN-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-qJw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102766"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102797,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102766\/revisions\/102797"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}