No Blinders

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

Read section 7.8, as the rules were written, the blinder is required to be permanantly attached so it's going to be wherever it is whether you are driving down the track or driving through the pits. I'd be more than happy to have a rule that says the blinder needs to be hinged or removable and needs to be removed as soon as you enter the return road but that is not the way the rules were written. The max size in the rulebook is 4" x 8" (so 32 sq inches) which seems crazy big to me but that's what's in the rulebook. I've seen people far excede that size but that's another matter. What I proposed to NHRA was that the max size be reduced to 12 sq inch max and/or it needs to be removed as soon as you leave the track and can't be reinstalled until you are back in the staging lanes.

Permanently attached simply means it must require tools to remove or install. They can be moveable and adjustable. The ones in the orange Camaro are mounted to the roll bar, but they're moveable just exactly like a sun visor. They're actually about the size of an index card. They WERE perfectly legal according to the rule book, and went through tech dozens of times. You fold the one you need down, when you're in the water. And you fold it back up when you're on the return road.


Of course, what I'm talking about is simply a small device to allow you to block only the top two bulbs on your side of the tree.




What I have seen, and I agree, they're astoundingly unsafe, are all sorts of devices, attached to all sorts of objects. I've seen guys in the pits with what looks like a rural parcel mailbox taped on their helmet. It literally blocked his view of the entire passenger side of his car. He might as well have painted half of his windshield, all of the rear window, as well as all of his passenger side glass, black. Just the idea of needing or wanting something of that nature is bizarre to me, and it's obviously dangerous.





I'm sure NHRA is looking for the easiest way out. The easiest way out, requiring the least amount of effort on their part, is to ban everything, for everyone. They're not going to want to measure or inspect anything. And they're certainly not going to police blinders in the pits. Too much work.


So, as per usual, the screw ups ruin it for everyone, and the regular people are unfairly punished.