A case for aftermarket seats in stock

[Greg Hill]

Yesterday my son Andrew and I were at my shop getting his car ready to go to Bowling Green today and he reminded me that his seat was loose. After we got every thing else done I felt of his seat and sure enough it was flopping around like you wouldn't believe. I had Andrew to remove the seat so we could take a look. The main reason for the looseness was that the seat tracks were worn out, although that wasn't the only thing. The catch that holds the seat back in place and keeps it from going forward had two or three inches play in it. We worked on the seat tracks and were able to engineer a half *** fix, but it's far from right and the seat back still has all the slop in it.

It's extremely hard to find 70-73 seat tracks and seats that are not worn out. You can cover them and make them look good, but how about the integrity of the seat and tracks themselves. I would propose aftermarket seats approved by NHRA and IHRA for stock that closely resemble the old musclecar seats. A company that I am familiar with is Procar which are sold by Jeg's and Summit. These seats may be a little lighter but they are much better as far as integrity goes. They are welded tubular steel frames and have seat tracks that are tight and have locks on both sides. I am not advocating Kirkey seats or light weight plastic racing seats but something that looks original but is much safer. I know this subject has been talked about on here before but I really feel this is a safety issue and not a performance one.

[Chad Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Greg Hill

Yesterday my son Andrew and I were at my shop getting his car ready to go to Bowling Green today and he reminded me that his seat was loose. After we got every thing else done I felt of his seat and sure enough it was flopping around like you wouldn't believe. I had Andrew to remove the seat so we could take a look. The main reason for the looseness was that the seat tracks were worn out, although that wasn't the only thing. The catch that holds the seat back in place and keeps it from going forward had two or three inches play in it. We worked on the seat tracks and were able to engineer a half *** fix, but it's far from right and the seat back still has all the slop in it.

It's extremely hard to find 70-73 seat tracks and seats that are not worn out. You can cover them and make them look good, but how about the integrity of the seat and tracks themselves. I would propose aftermarket seats approved by NHRA and IHRA for stock that closely resemble the old musclecar seats. A company that I am familiar with is Procar which are sold by Jeg's and Summit. These seats may be a little lighter but they are much better as far as integrity goes. They are welded tubular steel frames and have seat tracks that are tight and have locks on both sides. I am not advocating Kirkey seats or light weight plastic racing seats but something that looks original but is much safer. I know this subject has been talked about on here before but I really feel this is a safety issue and not a performance one.

Greg, I agree 100%. I think if you are going to allow aftermarket seats you may as well allow Kirkey's and just make the upholstery match. the Procar's aren't a racing seat, and if we are going to go aftermarket let's go for as much safety as possible.

And before anyone jumps on the "stock appearing bandwagon" too much, stop and think. Roll bars don't look stock, neither do $500 a piece front wheels showing off the lightweight front brakes, and the wheelie bars certainly give things away as well. Most of the above mentioned was done for safety, and its time us as drag racers joined the rest of the racing community in having safe seats. Hell the SCCA allows race seats in the their stockest, slowest of autocross classes ( and we're talking 50mph here). The weight savings is, in most cases, pretty much a non issue as most cars have lead in them anyways.

This is just my opinion, and has been for quite some time now. I'm sure anyone who has crashed a stocker would probably agree

[CycloneFE]

I would like to add that I used to own a 1968 Mustang in the mid 70's and it had a recall back then for the pin that holds the back of the seat on. My father helped me fix it even though the factory had a plan, but this goes to show that factory seats cannot be dependable for safety.

NHRA does need to address SAFETY first in many things today it seems.

Just my thoughts only.

Steve

[james schaechter]

I think this is a good topic. We had to weld extra stuff into our old bench seat and I hate adding any weight! I was just concerned that it wouldn't hang together if there was a problem on track like a crash etc.

You don't see too many stockers pile up, but a loose seat can turn an easy crash into a tragedy.

I agree there should be some guidance here from NHRA that offers stock appearing seats with safety in mind. If they don't we will have uncovered Jaz and Kirkey seats in there.

I would think that there could be a workable alternative.

I was in Bowling Green a few years back when Fuller and Beeler crashed. I put a fuel cell in after that and was really wishing for a better seat too. 115 mph doesn't seem fast until you start bouncing updside down.

Of course we have 140+ mph stockers now!

[Ken Miele]

Greg I agree and Chad I also agree, Kirkey would be my choice. Like you Chad, I'm going pretty fast mph and would like to know my seat will not come apart if I get in a bad wreck.

Like Chad said, when it comes to safety there is very little left on our cars that are stock. I think NHRA needs to give us the option if we want a little more safety, not make mandatory, just an option.

[Alan Warman]

I would go for after market seats for safety. Hell half the cars don't have the right seat in them anyway. Year's a go I was the local tech inspector at our track. One of the car's that used to show up was built buy the rule book. Bolted down seat tracks,back of the seat bolted to the roll bar it was a nice car. Well one another car got out of shape one day and clipped the this car. Well it barrel rolled right down the center of the track. When I got to the car it was on laying on the passenger side door. I climbed up and opened the driver side door and to my surprise no driver. I 'm thinking wtf and then I hear some one telling me I'm in the back. Well the seat had come apart while it was rolling down the track. The funny thing was the 5-way was still latched together. The bad thing was it hurt the guy pretty bad. Well the next year the guy had a new car with aftermarket seats in it. I asked him why he didn't put them in his old car, his reply was I wanted it to look stock.

[Chad Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Alan Warman

I would go for after market seats for safety. Hell half the cars don't have the right seat in them anyway. Year's a go I was the local tech inspector at our track. One of the car's that used to show up was built buy the rule book. Bolted down seat tracks,back of the seat bolted to the roll bar it was a nice car. Well one another car got out of shape one day and clipped the this car. Well it barrel rolled right down the center of the track. When I got to the car it was on laying on the passenger side door. I climbed up and opened the driver side door and to my surprise no driver. I 'm thinking wtf and then I hear some one telling me I'm in the back. Well the seat had come apart while it was rolling down the track. The funny thing was the 5-way was still latched together. The bad thing was it hurt the guy pretty bad. Well the next year the guy had a new car with aftermarket seats in it. I asked him why he didn't put them in his old car, his reply was I wanted it to look stock.

Although anticdotal evidence, that's been my point for 4 years. Late model seats aren't designed for the speeds and forces involved with a crash on a race track, much less 40 yr old seats that came from who knows where and went through who knows what before they got new cushions and covers and wound up in someone's racecar

[Woodro Josey]

I know that my opinion dosen't count for much anymore, but Greg will remember 2 years ago we tried to get NHRA to allow aftermarket seats and they slapped us on the wrist and said no way, forget that. Well i am still saying, Stock needs those seats, we are where SuperStock was when they allowed them to be used. I agree, don't make it Manditory but if a racer wants them, so be it. Thats my 2 cents!

[Alan Roehrich]

Woodro, your opinion might not mean much to NHRA, but it carries as much weight with the racers as anyone's opinion does.

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Woodro, your opinion might not mean much to NHRA, but it carries as much weight with the racers as anyone's opinion does.

X10...... Woodro is THE MAN! Jim