I posted elsewhere that we are building a Bantam altered powered by a 261 six cylinder. We have followed threads regarding nostalgia dragsters, etc religiously and now I feel that perhaps this is the right place to ask some questions particularly involving safety gear. We want to be able to run at most legitimate tracks so meeting the NHRA safety rules seems to just about cover it. I have scoured their rule book and read what I could on-line, but every thing sounds like it was written by a team of lawyers and not necessarily pertaining to nostalgia racers running 12 seconds. Mention has been made about wearing street clothes only, is this true everywhere or is a race suit necessary? I currently have socks, gloves and a head sock. Are these sufficient? I have a new Bell open face helmet, do I need a face shield? The battery is mounted in a Taylor box secured to the frame behind the driver’s seat. Does this suffice in lieu of a firewall? We are running a 9” Ford with 11”x 2” brakes. Any opinion on stopping ability? We are using a Kirkey aluminum seat with head supports. The five point hitch holds you securely into the seat. The cage has areas to the left and right of the head supports that a helmet would fit through. The rule book talks of using a net in open areas, we were going to weld in cross braces, but I don’t want to. Are the head braces sufficient? Although the Bantam has an open roof and no windows, there is a windshield which I would like to run. Opinions? Warren
Is the helmet Snell approved 2010 or later? What part of the rule book are you looking at? It seems to me that the Sportsman ET rules would apply...you should not need any racing attire if you're running slower than 9.99 seconds ET and you don't have a blower. How do you get in and out of the car? That's the main concern I'd have... but I'm not a tech inspector.
If you can't figure out the rules by reading the book, call your local NHRA track and talk to their tech guy. Usually quite helpful. And you will have to guess at how fast your car will run. Rules change with E.T.
When you blow an oil line and the oil sprays the exhaust and you have a possible fire, what do you want to hold back the fire? Street clothes? At least a SFI 5 firesuit? And to put out the fire? The Safety Crew, a fire extinguisher somewhere? Or that red button you hit? Safety cost, what is your life worth? And yes I am an SCTA Inspector, and yes this is not a SCTA question but safety is safety.
Yep...as time's motored on, and crashes have happened at drag strips all over the world, the NHRA has watched as has the insurance companies. Which is where the lawyers or the lawyer lingo's come from. Every rule in the current NHRA book has come from problems, cheating, deaths, etc., etc. You have to be a member to see the whole rule book I believe nowadays. If you want to run at NHRA tracks, abide by the rule book. Some tracks may be a little lenient on some things, some may not, just depends on your home track. And yea, if you have questions, BEST to call the NHRA guys, not just any ol shmo that thinks...he/she knows the answer. It's them you have to satisfy, not the person on the street. Have fun with it. Mike
There are no separate rules for nostalgia cars unless you're running in the NHRA Heritage Series. I Agree with Squirrel that you'd fall into the Sportsman ET Series as far as safety rules go. To your specific questions: If you have a sealed metal firewall and floor you don't need a complete firesuit. But since you are only running a windshield (no side windows) and open top you'll need a helmet w/face shield, gloves, at least an SFI-1 jacket, and arm restraints. Helmet needs to be a Snell 2010 or later. If the firewall/floor isn't sealed metal, you'll need at least a SFI-15 firesuit. Only if the Taylor box is metal and sealed. Won't be a problem. Plenty of stopping power. Not sufficient. You need 1" dia. horizontal helmet bars welded in. Some kind of wind deflector is required & the windshield would qualify, so I'd run it. I think your project looks good. The roll cage especially. I think with the "altered" style and Six Banger, you'll find the car a lot of fun. And remember, as typo4l noted, these are just the minimum safety rules. There isn't any reason you can't go further to make the car safer for you and everyone else at the track. Also, don't be surprised to have the car picked apart a little the first time you take it to the track. The tech officials are just looking out for your best interest. Have you been to your local dragstrip at all lately? You can always talk to the tech guys there too.
Trust me guys, we are not cheaping out, if anything, I want to go beyond the basic rules, just having a bit of trouble understanding them. The Taylor box is metal and sealed. In a pinch, you can climb over the cage and get out the opening doors but I expect to climb in from the top. I have already talked to a company that makes approved firesuits and will get one that fits my figure. My partner is bending up the helmet bars, just didn't want to add any more weight then necessary. I will try to get ahold of someone at NHRA before we progress too far. Thanks for the input Warren
Sounds good. For a little more inspiration here's one of our local cars. Shows a SBC in the picture, but has run an inline 292 Chevy six too.
You are a little beond that point having to worry about adding weight to the chassis. General NHRA rules are available online for non-members, it just takes a little work to find them
No roof, you might need arm tethers Some things are not based on speed. As stated above you will prob need a fire suit and shoes.
I'd consider a Hans device, yes they are annoying but if you hit something you'll be really happy you had it.
Go to NHRA.com and go to reunions. The rules for the Heritage series is in there. That's what I used to pass tech at Bowling Green Hot Rod reunion and it breezed right through tech. Make sure your dates are good on your safety equipment. Love to see the inline motor. Practice getting out of the roof blindfolded. When shit goes bad you can't be over prepared.
I run the same basic car ( bantam coupe , 292 chev, open roof, etc) you have to have arm restraints because it is an open car,jacket only because I have floor boards covering the trans. you don`t say what trans so scattershield may be in order if it`s a manual one. even though I only run 11`s, I have hans, neck collar gloves and shoes so I can run up to 9.99 with no probs. you can`t go wrong over building the car
Back to the original question, I see nothing wrong with the basic car except you will need helmet bars, cage padding( which has to be sfi stamped) battery disconnect and a tailite. My opinion you might think about adding two 1 3/8 .118 wall bars from firewall cage to front of frame. really stiffens the frame. The commercialy available roll bar padding can be formed by boiling in water Takes awhile
Sounds like you will be running 11.99 and slower. So.. Snell rated helmet. If not running a winshield you will need eye protection.... , seat belt- in this case probably a harness since the car did not come with belts. Battery hold down and locate outside of drivers cockpit. and Battery cutoff switch, cooling system over flow can , drive shaft loop. Two wheel brakes are ok but 4 wheel are recommended. If this car has doors the inside of the doors should have some sheet metal as an inner panel . need approved fire jacket for et in this case Jegs or Summit sells theses all day long you are running and long pants jeans ok. You'll need a single tail light as well Attached are the general regs....
old sparks: I would love to see some pictures of your Bantam. I had never seen the Lynn Goodfellow Bantam before, but was awed by it. I had a great conversation with him last week. I want to thank everyone who has responded. You advise and info is greatly appreciated and for the most part, followed to the letter. I have a call into the division NHRA office and will certainly abide by their rules. I agree, you can't be too cautious. I enjoy living this great life and want to continue to do so. Warren
Remember its your life and body. You don't want to save a couple of bucks only to spend the rest of your life as an invalid.
Suppose a 6.98 et. big block chevy is turning 6000 rpm and a small block chevy at 7.02et and turning 9000 rpm which is the most dangerous? The brackets are based on et,s 6.99 and 7.99 ect and the safety reguirements are different and poorly thought out in several areas.
Really, the NHRA got it wrong? Like 20 lbs of fire extinguisher on blown alky cars no matter what the performance level ???? A -15 suit in ANY car with an exposed automatic transmission even though the slower classes can run without a trans or converter shield. Nah!!! The Glendora gang always get it right (NOT). Roo
i could never understand nhra and their fire suit requirements. oil fires and fuel fires burn at the same temp regardless of the et the car is running. they have several sfi suits to meet the et. i just don't get it. a fuel car running 300 plus mph and a 13 sec bracket car running 100 mph are equally dangerous if on fire. there was a horrific fire at this years reunion in kentucky. a slow bracket car crashed then caught fire big time. it burned to the ground like a modern funny car. if the guy wasn't lucky enough to get ejected from the car he would have burned to death in his single layer jacket.
That I agree with! But can you even imagine the bitching racers would have if the required real fire suits? racers would gripe about the cost first, comfort, then about buying new stuff after a few years. racers always think it can't happen to them! It would be great if all racers had the good attitude the OP of this thread has, but they don't! Having seen some racers die and some seriously injured over the years, I always dread seeing it again. thankfully, it's been a few years. Guys LOVE to gripe about the NHRA and safety rules, sometimes deservedly so, but the fact remains IT'S YOUR LIFE GUYS! Be safe.
Pretty sure if you have roll bar/ cage you must use a proper 5 point harness, with the proper expiry dates on them.
no one has the cash for a spec-20 suit complete with boots and gloves or 2-20lb fire bottles. i REALLY didn't have the cash for a three month stay on a icu burn unit at 10,000 grand plus per day so i cheaped out and found the money for the suit and fire system. i feel like I'm money ahead. even then with the best suit money can buy it only gives you 30 seconds of direct flame contact before the skin starts to burn. thats not a lot of time to stop and exit. thats if you can. don't get me started on diapers and head restraints. the guys that have crashed or have been on fire don't complain about the cost of safety. they are the guys with all of their safety equipment on and their belts tight. it was not luck that spared me a few times from serious injury after a few on track incidents. it was because i was prepared.
It looks like a great car, but, it simply has no "crush zone" anywhere, and any high-speed impact will transfer directly to the drivers seat, and no 5-point harness or full-face helmet will save the driver. The drivers only hope is to be wearing a full legit "HANS DEVICE", connecting the helmet to the drivers suite, which has proven to reduce broken neck injures. This is not BS. This is fact. The HANS Device is the greatest driver safety feature invented in the last 20 years.
He does have a set of wheelie bars and he is just launching so maybe the front axle gets a little light. That is an extremely light car for a good running small block. I wonder if he gets the same lift with the 292. Warren
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