Ryan
We almost
never use the chute we have gone all season long without ever repacking it but there in lies the rub, since we never use it and never repack it ,you start to question if it will work when you really need it ?
The death of the Alcohol Funny Car racer (Neal Parker) prompted the NHRA at Joliet to have all of us demonstrate that our chutes were operable and We (The MWSCS) thought that maybe it might be a good idea to prompt people to do the same.
I had an experience of pulling the chute lever because I was trying to stop in the rain ( it wasn't raining when I left the line but I could see it on the windshield @1000') and due to my previous welding repair of a tab in the top frame rail I had melted the housing to the inner cable so of course it didn't work.
That experience taught me to not assume things will always work as planned and it just might be prudent to test them occasionally.
