Funny Car Cage...Safe or not?

[Wayne Scraba]

More than a dozen years ago while I was sitting in an airport lounge waiting for a flight, I had a lengthy conversation with the late Jim Deist. Jim was convinced we had it all wrong when it came to roll bars (period). His point was a driver's helmet could easily come in contact with the roll bar hoop, simply because the hoop is too close (to the helmet). He elaborated on the normal stretch in a belt/harness in an accident (its a lot), even when they're cinched tight. A funny car cage only made it worse, even with all of the "padding" in the world. Basically, the driver's head gets rattled around in a crash in such a case and that's why people die or have serious head injuries. Jim was a pretty smart Kat and I suspect he was right.

Anyway, I no longer have a dog in the fight (race cars), but I think it's very important this gets hashed out. It would be nice if the powers at NHRA were listening....

Wayne