No Blinders

[Hagen Gary]

I’m confused, don’t we all have to play by the same rules? The rule isn’t taking anything away from you alone, we all have to take them down. Isn’t Stock/Super Stock more about drivers and less about driving aids anyway? If you can’t hit the bottom bulb without a blinder, there is plenty of room in the .90 classes, where you can have all the driving aids you need.

[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.

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by Hagen Gary

I’m confused, don’t we all have to play by the same rules? The rule isn’t taking anything away from you alone, we all have to take them down. Isn’t Stock/Super Stock more about drivers and less about driving aids anyway? If you can’t hit the bottom bulb without a blinder, there is plenty of room in the .90 classes, where you can have all the driving aids you need.

Sure, if I'm such a bad driver that needs a blinder in order to hit the tree, I have a stick car and have to leave with my foot on a clutch pedal, how about we get rid of trans brakes and the long throw trans brake buttons? Everybody gets to leave off the pedal with their foot, maybe that's fair at the same time? I thought this issue was in regard to a supposed safety issue, not how we go about trying to cut a light?

[Whalen3186]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

When is the last time that you saw a Comp car being driven back through the pits?

Many comp cars are pushed making the driver of the car essentially responsible for where the car and golf cart are headed. Throw in a hood scoop with the blinder and the view from a comp car seat is significantly less than that of a stock or SS’er when navigating the pits.

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

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.

I think it is a totally reasonable idea to revise the rule to state that any blinder needs to be flipped up or removed on the return road prior to returning to the pits. In regard to blinder size, I don't need any kind of high tech measuring device in order to detect a blinder that is obviously way over the current 4 x 8 size rule. I am perfectly fine with reducing that maximum size rule way down also, that way bigger than they need to be.

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

When is the last time that you saw a Comp car being driven back through the pits?

More often than not anymore, Comp cars and Top Sportsman cars are being pushed not pulled so the driver is the guy dictating where the car is going, not the golf cart. Based on that, he's the guy with the blinder and humongous hood scoop in his line of vision making the decision on where to go. Based on that, these cars are way more likely to hit something.

[442OLDS]

With the latest clarification:
https://www.nhraracer.com/content/ge...715&zoneid=132

I read this and it seems like you could protest someone if you lose and saw your opponent using a blinder.

I could really care less on this one.Same thing as at the scales.If I am bracket racing someone and they come up 5 pounds light at the scales,I could care less.I don't weigh if I lose unless specifically instructed to.

This could lead to some exciting racing this year.Car A wins the round,but upon further review at the replay booth,Car B is reinstated because of a blinder penalty and an automatic first down.

[voltdr]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

More often than not anymore, Comp cars and Top Sportsman cars are being pushed not pulled so the driver is the guy dictating where the car is going, not the golf cart. Based on that, he's the guy with the blinder and humongous hood scoop in his line of vision making the decision on where to go. Based on that, these cars are way more likely to hit something.

The cars that are being pushed instead of towed, the golf cart doing the pushing is in control of the car. If it is going in a wrong direction, the golf cart can stop it. Also, these cars are not driving way too fast in the pits to hurry back to cool the car off and get ready for the next round. Like Alan said, It's a few people that pushed the limit to the braking point, and the easiest fix is to ban all blinders. No measuring no interpreting.
Dan

I see cars being pulled out of the scales at Phoenix to be inspected for blinder infractions…
Just don’t use a Coors twelve pac box to make one..
It appears some here are afraid of the blinder. Good reason to have one in the car.

We still need a - (Dislike) tab!

[dartman]

Originally Posted by mitch kight

Two-steps are next!

I could see that. How many times have you seen or heard cars in the pits testing their two steps or transmission brake. And who has never checked their converter stall speed in the the pits.