Originally Posted by Rory McNeil
(Post 297602)
I guess my factory 26 year old seats were good enough to pass whatever crash impact standards were in place when my Mustang was new. The seat frames and tracks are all steel, and held together with fairly sturdy brackets and fasteners.I spoke with a friend of mine who is a vehicle dynamics engineer at GM and asked him specifically about seat testing. To sum it up, they are never tested above 70 mph, never with a seatbelt system that has no "give", and most definitly not with a roll bar directly behind them. He was specifically concerned about the roll bar and or mounting to it, because it could place an undintended stress on the seat and CAUSE it to break I do have "race" seats in my bracket car, somehow I doubt that the 4 threaded mounting inserts molded into the seat base are as strong as the factory stuff. I think the "race" seat agenda for most people is for weight savings, at least in my opinion. if you feel safe with the possibility of a 150mph 3200lbs cobrajet in your lane with a stock seat, you're more than welcome to use them. However NHRA should not prevent racers from using a safer product. Personally, I wish Stock was more like it was at least 15 or 20 more years ago, no lightweight race brakes, wheelie bars, aftermarket aluminum heads, etc. I was one of the (few?) who was actually hoping NHRA was going to be pulling pistons and rods, and weighing them, as well pouring heads for runner volume, funny how so many people claimed to have "untouched, origional factory castings that were bigger than the SUPER STOCK specs'!
I know that I am not alone in thinking that Stock Eliminator has gone way, way, too leinient will the rules and the "enhanchments" some vocal racers have been claiming they need to be competetive with the "Brand X, Y, Z" cars. I never met "Farmer" Dismuke, but he certainly sounds like the kind of guy that strived to keep the STOCK in Stock Eliminator. Too bad his hard line on the rulebook has been so erroded over the years. Sometimes It seems that Stock is headed to become nothing more than a small tire bracket class, without a hood scoop. I don`t think thats a good thing, do you? Also, since you are so worried about crashing, I`m sure that all your bumper hardware, door guard beams, and undercarrige bracing still intact, right?
|