Where's the best place to find DOM tubing in the mid-west or mid-south (Arkansa, Oklahoma, Kansas, MO)? My local metal supply has tons of 1 3/4" "roll bar" tubing. It is welded. The circle track guys use the welded tubing with no problem. Does NHRA require seamless tubing over a certain speed or low ET mark?
There's no requirement to go DOM until you get faster than 10.00. At that point, your cage needs to be certified and must be TIG-welded chrom-moly. That said, however, the price difference between HREW and DOM is really not that much, maybe $1.50 per ft at wholsale prices. Since the cost of the tube is a small fraction of the total cost of a cage (when you consider the labor), I always recommend to customer that they use DOM. In fact, my shop does not use HREW for our cages, only DOM mild steel or chrom-moly. Hope that helps; post pics of the project when you get it going! Hank
Sort of, but not exactly......check out this link. http://www.nhra.com/contacts/tech_faq.html No mention of DOM requirements in the FAQ.....although its smarter to use it over ERW, in my opinion. Basically if your going to race the car you'll need to get a current rule book, see which cl*** it falls under and build according to the rules/requirements of the sanctioning body and/or specific track requirements. -Bigchief.
We're both right; the chrom-moly that's required for cert'ed frames IS DOM - it's just made of chrom-moly instead of mild steel. I second the recommendation to get a rulebook; I'm an NHRA/SFI certified tech inspector and have 3 copies of the '06 rulebook; they all get used very often! Hank
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