Legal seats for stock eliminator

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

I was just wondering this also, so are racing seats legal in stock? I originally wanted to keep my oem seats for the look but when I launch the seat kinda leans back and I have trouble seeing over the steering wheel as it is.

Could you brace the back of the OEM seats to the roll bar/cage?

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Mike Schwartz

Could you brace the back of the OEM seats to the roll bar/cage?

Mike, I don't know about Bobby's car, but a roll bar is not required in N/S(A)

[HandOverFist]

Can't say I really understand the safety aspect of the aftermarket seats over OEM. My stock seat back rests against the roll bar and I have a head support/cushion welded to the upper hoop. In the event of an impact I can see the back of the seat being able to fold if my body is not resting against it, but the harness is attached to the roll bar and floor pan which precludes me from forming any measurable distance from the seat surfaces. I can see some improvement with modern seating in the form of lateral support in certain situations, but that's about it. Now if I had an impact from the rear with the stock seating I could envision greater problems.

[Tony Goodman]

The lateral support is the biggest advantage. The side support in a racing seat is much greater. I'm sure there are a few racers in stock seats that have rib injures from hitting their ribs on the side bar of ther race car in a side impact. I believe thats what made Kyle Ratcliff very uncomfortable for a couple of months after his stocker crash. I bet he has racing seats now. You will never be as safe in a stock seat as you will in a racing seat. The Kirkey seats are also very comfortable. Tony

[Tom Goldman]

Here's a side by side comparison on a 69 Camaro I did .
Yes , they do not have the classic look , but your chances of not being injured in a crash are significantly lower with all the support the seat offers .

[Tom Goldman]

Sorry , I'll have to try the photos later , terrible bandwidth here at E town for me.

[Tom Goldman]

Here you go

[Dave Muller]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Mike, I don't know about Bobby's car, but a roll bar is not required in N/S(A)

Mark, I'm sure a lot of cars that don 't have to have a roll bar have them anyway. My car my wind up in N/SA but I plan on a cage anyway. My question is if a bar/cage is not required, but is present, is it still required to brace the back of the seat to the roll bar? If so, only aftermarket seats or factory seats too?

I'm more curious regarding my bracket car actually; it doesn't require a cage or bar but it has one anyway.

[Sean Marconette]

Dave,
With my stock seats, they were not braced to the rear bar. But they were almost touching the bar, I think about an inch gap. Between D3, 4, and 5 going through tech, it was never an issue.

Sean

[Dave Muller]

Thanks, Sean, that's good to hear. No tech inspector has ever said anything about my seats in a year and a half either in the bracket car.

Then again, no one had said anything about my battery hold-down for several years before the tech guy at Bakersfield at the Div. 7 Summit Finals said it was no good.