Changes 2016

[Stewart Way]

Michael
One reason NHRA does the safety requirements by class is that in tech, how does a tech man know how fast a car will go? Ask the Racer? Ha. One SS/I goes 10.90 while another can go 9.90. If the tech man asks both racers, who knows what the answer will be. Happens all the time in brackets. Someone comes thru tech and when asked he says 10.50 because he has no cage or -5 suit and the car runs 9.50 or faster. Car will likely make it all the way thru time trials and not be caught. Only when an ET is on the window can someone maybe see the car is not running the required equipment.
Most S and SS classes have a range of 1+ seconds from slowest to fastest. If 9.99 falls in that range, I think NHRA finds it easier and safer to require the car to have the equipment for the faster of the range for the above reason.
Arbitrary? Maybe. But maybe there is a reason.