Stocker roll cage bar beyond firewall rule......

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by Karl Owens

now there are 8 second stock eliminators, shoudnt safety be #1 priority. What is NHRAs reasoning behind not allowing roll bars to tie the complete chassis together? Firewall flex and broken trans cases can be dangerous at high speeds. Look how long it took NHRA to allow aftermarket brakes in Stock which in my opinion any component that improves safety should never be an issue. The other issue I have problem with is steering, I think rack and pinion should be allowed in all classes, to replace antique steering on most cars beside newer ones.

The Cobra Jet, COPO and DP cars, have a minimum of a 10 point cage that is good up to 8.50 seconds. Any car that exceeds 8.50 seconds, requires a SFI Spec 25.4 or 25.5 cage.

I don't understand what you mean by not allowing roll bars to tie the chassis.

You can take a roll bar and turn it into a roll cage and tie up the chassis by welding it to the frame connectors in a unibody car or welding it to the actual frame in a car that has a full frame. As a matter of fact, the rules requires in cars with a full chassis, for the roll cage and/or roll bar, to be welded to the chassis.

A well designed roll cage will not require any additional tubes to go past the firewall. I have seen many cars that run faster than 8.50 seconds with a SFI Spec 25.4 or 25.5 cage without any additional tubes past the firewall.

By the way, a well built roll cage, can improve the performance of the car.