![\"Antron](\"http:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/antron-brown-crash.jpg\")
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When NHRA founder Wally Parks saw the need to organize drag racing 63 years ago, his primary goal was safety.
\nAfter all those young men returned home from World War II, the economy boomed and discretionary spending power was never more predominate.<\/p>\n
With that extra cash, cars became a commodity and the quest for speed quickly brought interest to many would-be racers and the only place to race were the streets of suburban Los Angeles, and car clubs quickly sprang up around the city.<\/p>\n
Parks, who also served in the South Pacific in World War II helped put together the original Southern California Timing Association. That led to his time as editor of Hot Rod magazine, giving him the forum to end the chaos and create order by instituting safety rules and performance standards. In 1951, Parks helped legitimize the sport as president of the newly formed National Hot Rod Association.<\/p>\n
Moving quickly since that time, we\u2019ve seen speeds escalate from 140 miles per hour at the Santa Ana Drags in 1950 to 337 mph during the era of 1,320 feet. \u00a0After Scott Kalitta\u2019s tragic accident, the quarter-mile would become a thing of the past and in 2006 the 1,000 foot era began for everything that runs on nitromethane.<\/p>\n
With safety as the only motivating factor that perpetuates NHRA regulations, items such as the implementation of seat belts, adding head protection in the development of helmets, fire suits, fireproof shoes and gloves to protect the rest of the body became some of the mainstays of safety that NHRA introduced to its series, and the evolution of those have saved many lives.<\/p>\n
After the driver was becoming more protected, that led to the introduction of the drag chute, blower restraints, and one of the key ingredients was the protection provided by the chassis.<\/p>\n
When nitromethane was finally allowed in the NHRA starting in the mid-’60s, elapsed times decreased rapidly while speeds grew dramatically. It was August of 1964 when we saw “Big Daddy” Don Garlits break the 200-mph barrier in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
Since that time, things have changed drastically. In 2014, we see the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes with all the modern conveniences to protect the driver at speeds in excess of 320 mph.\u00a0Modern fire systems knock down engine fires.<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s chassis have taken on a technological design of performance and safety. Computers have taken the blueprints of the original cars of the ’60s and transformed them into metal marvels. Many of the teams are just now beginning to build their own chassis from the ground up, tailoring them to their specific needs.<\/p>\n
Don Schumacher racing took driver protection one step further, and other teams are noticing. Today\u2019s DRS Top Fuel dragsters all have closed cockpits. Antron Brown was able to walk away from a horrific crash thanks to the closed cockpit at the 2013 Winternationals when a blown engine sent his dragster spinning on its side into the wall.<\/p>\n