Do Stockers need correct year seats?

[Jeff Lee]

So they insist on identifying the correct seat for the car but don't seem to care if the foam is 1/4 the thickness or half the springs are missing, or it has fixed CM tubing to hold the seat to the floor instead of a track.

I would think if the people that write the NHRA rulebook were REALLY concerned about the correct appearance it would state in the rule book "must be correct seats for make, model and year of vehicle that is claimed" It really would be that simple as they use this phrase many other times when deemed important.

In the current writing, it wouldn't last a second in court if somebody had 1967 Camaro Buckets in their 1970 Camaro (Stock class). The rules says very explicitly "must have full factory type upholstery.......and front and rear seats" (I skipped the part about carpet, door panels, etc). Doesn't say seats must be from make / model / year claimed.
If it's a concern, change the wording in the book.

This was the same issue a few years ago about radiators. Basically a 1967 Camaro could get away with a 2002 Camaro (lite-weight) radiator as it was "the same model". The rule was revised to spell out the radiator must be from the make / model / year claimed. It's that simple.