Slyfox, you can't put a price on safety. Charge every racer $4 or $5 extra for tech. They will pay it, nice to know the person in the other lane isn't going to crash into you because something broke on there car.

quote:

Originally posted by Larry Scarth:
Slyfox, you can't put a price on safety. Charge every racer $4 or $5 extra for tech. They will pay it, nice to know the person in the other lane isn't going to crash into you because something broke on there car.

Be prepared to arrive 1-2-3 days before the event.
Have you ever listened to the b!tching about a 15 minute wait in the tech line?

It's insane to even begin to think that a comprehensive inspection of the chassis and components can be done in the staging lanes at a drag strip.
We gonna send all the bolts out for x-ray, then hope it gets reassembled correctly in the field?
Where does it end?

NHRA holds ZERO liability for the junk you bring on their track, it says so right in the rules.

You're either an idiot with broken junk or you're not.

I thank all my NHRA tech and general friends/employees for doing a great job. They don’t get paid enough for what they do. They have to put up with a ton of bull crap and ungrateful racers. Not a l l racers of course.
We do need tech like it or not.

How about we run a concrete barrier down the centerline, all the way to the turnoffs? Would that help some folks deal with their concerns about what goes on in the other lane? Take care. Tom Worthington

quote:

Originally posted by Tom396:
How about we run a concrete barrier down the centerline, all the way to the turnoffs? Would that help some folks deal with their concerns about what goes on in the other lane? Take care. Tom Worthington

There ya go! Oh wait, what about driving the stripe? It’s all fine and dandy till someone leaves their lane. Problem is we cannot predict mishaps. But we can try to protect from mishaps.
D A M shame it takes an accident to see change.

In the nearly 30 years of racing....tech has went from giving me h e l l over having duct tape on my air pan of a car i drove to sliding the tech card in a mailbox or under a rock.

Should this be a surprise to anyone? Absolutely not, look at how much everything else has changed in 30 years.

tech or not...if you crash into me. I'm getting out and beatin yo a z z!!!! assuming i can get out of my non-teched car

How many problems have any of you had due to someone else's expired chassis sticker?

How many problems have any of you had due to someone else not wearing the right jacket of gloves?

How many problems have any of you had due to someone else have expired belts?

Things like worn suspension parts, loose bolts ect pretty much never got checked in tech.

I always kept my stuff current so I could race....anywhere. Once I had new belts, but didn't bolt them in just to see if I could pass tech. I made it through tech at a NHRA National Event with my belts just laced through my seat. Not bolted in.


Some people like John (who started this tread) are truly concerned about other peoples safety. Others just want to complain because they're afraid someone will beat them in a car with an expired sticker, or expired belts.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
There is no tech inspection at NHRA events either, you just fill out an online NHRA tech card based on the honor system. The only spot checks for me have been belts, helmet and chassis cert in the lanes

Build yourself an A/Fuel car and you get a full understanding of tech inspection. Everything gets checked even scoop height/We got called on .75" too tall. The little trans blanket and by little I mean it is all of 2" wide and wraps around the reverser.

I do agree there needs to be some form of inspection if for no other reason than the guy in the other lane.

I got inspected last year at 2020 IHRA world finals in Memphis. Guy looked over car (slow nobox car), laughed and told me I would need belts in spring.

I cannot speak for anyone else but the current system does not worry me. The only times other lane has possibly affected me me in 16 years has been alcohol funny car coming into my lane mid track in Q16 qualifying and a broken cooler line on faster car crossing in front of me (fastest 330' ever). Other than trans fluid on car nose, no real issue for me.

I would not race if something wrong that could impact either track or opponent. I think most have same mindset, always another day.

quote:

Originally posted by Woody B:
How many problems have any of you had due to someone else's expired chassis sticker?

How many problems have any of you had due to someone else not wearing the right jacket of gloves?

How many problems have any of you had due to someone else have expired belts?

Things like worn suspension parts, loose bolts ect pretty much never got checked in tech.

I always kept my stuff current so I could race....anywhere. Once I had new belts, but didn't bolt them in just to see if I could pass tech. I made it through tech at a NHRA National Event with my belts just laced through my seat. Not bolted in.


Some people like John (who started this tread) are truly concerned about other peoples safety. Others just want to complain because they're afraid someone will beat them in a car with an expired sticker, or expired belts.

All of those things can and do affect ALL of us.
When there is an incident that results in injuries or death, it has the potential to put an end to ALL of our opportunities to race.
Big picture view.

The main thing is find common ground amongst everyone.

Needing 100% everything up to certification is unnecessary (Seat belts over 3 years, out of date window nets, this is what I'm talking about)

At the same time you should wear your safety equipment (Fire suit, shoes, helmet, as required by your class designation).

Tech at bracket races should consist of someone checking for leaks and basic equipment, and generally janky workmanship (Which everyone knows when they see it)

If you are too hardcore, bracket racing will be gone overnight. People who say otherwise have quite a bit of money to spare, and those who say they wouldn't go racing if they couldn't be on the up an up, at the very least have a lesser love for the sport than I do.

This is just my opinion, and I don't expect everyone to agree with me.

I had the SFI sticker fall off my new Meziere flexplate, I ran almost a whole season with no sticker on it. The only one affected by that would be me if NHRA actually crawled under my car to verify it,which I knew they wouldn't because they never ever have.

Steve, They did check the flex plate stickers in Houston several years back at least in S/G. Ran them up on a pair of ramps and looked. I was told several had to get new ones prior to racing.lol

My stickers are long gone on my trans case and bell. (I will get them replaced before season starts)
My thought process on this is if I inspect a SFI anything and do not see any damage or modification beyond what it allowed, then the part is serviceable and should be good to go. Exceptions would maybe be seat belts and other nylon devices, but I would extend them out to maybe 5 years.
The sun does in fact deteriorate the strength of nylon.. Yeah, yeah I agree our junk for the most part doesn't sit in the sun 100% of the time..

My opinion for what it's worth.

Dave

DC: I did tech at the Funny Car Chaos in SA awhile back. Maybe 40% of those I checked would have been allowed to run if the promoter was strict about the rules.
I was told to not stop them from running but to point out their issues.
One guy was licensing and NOTHING on his car was up to date. I could spend all day talking about what I found. lol
I will say there were a few who thanked me for being there and was told this was the first time in years anything had been looked at..lol

quote:

Originally posted by David Covey:
Steve, They did check the flex plate stickers in Houston several years back at least in S/G. Ran them up on a pair of ramps and looked. I was told several had to get new ones prior to racing.lol

Dave what really sucks is I finally got a new sticker for it from Meziere, then 3 races later my converter bolts came loose and trashed the flexplate and I had to buy a new one lol

quote:

Exceptions would maybe be seat belts and other nylon devices, but I would extend them out to maybe 5 years.
The sun does in fact deteriorate the strength of nylon.. Yeah, yeah I agree our junk for the most part doesn't sit in the sun 100% of the time..

David, How do you square this when the regulation happy bureaucrats have no such requirement on millions of automobiles involving hundreds of thousands of accidents involving seat belts/shoulder belts?

quote:

Originally posted by Canted Valve:

quote:

Exceptions would maybe be seat belts and other nylon devices, but I would extend them out to maybe 5 years.
The sun does in fact deteriorate the strength of nylon.. Yeah, yeah I agree our junk for the most part doesn't sit in the sun 100% of the time..

David, How do you square this when the regulation happy bureaucrats have no such requirement on millions of automobiles involving hundreds of thousands of accidents involving seat belts/shoulder belts?

My door car seat belts look brand new. They have a roof over them

One thing that should be a safety rule for all cars going down the track is a diaper/belly pan. You want to run down the track in a 20 second honda, it needs one just as my dragster does. It could save you from a wreck and save the track from being oiled down.

Don’t remember the last time I’ve actually been teched at a race.

quote:

Originally posted by Canted Valve:

quote:

Exceptions would maybe be seat belts and other nylon devices, but I would extend them out to maybe 5 years.
The sun does in fact deteriorate the strength of nylon.. Yeah, yeah I agree our junk for the most part doesn't sit in the sun 100% of the time..

David, How do you square this when the regulation happy bureaucrats have no such requirement on millions of automobiles involving hundreds of thousands of accidents involving seat belts/shoulder belts?

^^ What? How do you or why would you compare an everyday driver to a race car? You can’t! The safety regs are in place to protect you and others.

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
I had the SFI sticker fall off my new Meziere flexplate, I ran almost a whole season with no sticker on it. The only one affected by that would be me if NHRA actually crawled under my car to verify it,which I knew they wouldn't because they never ever have.

Take a picture of the sticker using your phone or remove it and put it in a plastic bag with my license and membership card.

That’s what I did with trans stickers and took pictures of others.

Never needed to show anyone though