A case for aftermarket seats in stock

[Dan Fletcher]

When time permits, I'm definitely going to look into locking my seat in place, ie: taking the slide track function out. I rolled up to the lanes for round # whatever at Chicago earlier this year and got out of the car. When I went back by the driver's door, I noticed that the seat was significantly closer to the steering wheel than it was when I got out. A piece that locks the track in a given position had broken and the seat was free to just flop back and forth, although the springs kept it biased forwards.

I was able to make the run, as I'm tall and push the seat all the way back. Had a shorter, un-named friend of mine been driving, we would have had a problem...LOL...

[Bobby DiDomenico]

Originally Posted by Chad Rhodes

just as a rebuttal to the weight issue and the huge advantage it is; I just weighed our new 92 camaro H-I-J/SA car. Its no lightweight, heavier centerline wheels, stock brakes, nothing cut up or acid dipped, mild steel bar, stock POWER seats, etc. as it sits with me in it its 50 lbs light for H/SA, the lightest class it can run......................and I'm 245lbs. i don't see the whole weight issue. aftermarket seats would have just added to the massive amount of weight the car nees

Chad,

Do the shipping weights for these new cars include the discarded A/C units and cruise control, etc.? (I bet the 69-71 ish weights are for a stripped down car.)

What NHRA did not do was reflect the weight reduction of items such as aluminum brakes and things. The easiest way to eliminate the seat weight advantage is going back to every car must be nose heavy. (Anyone recall when that was lifted from the rule book?) It would eliminate all the trick stuff advantage. Does a guy with a 1970 six cylinder Maverick really need $3,000 of aluminum brake pieces to stop? No, but he does to run with the others in his class if they loose the weight there.

I could never understand how NHRA and IHRA let guys race without fire jackets or pants. If your V/SA car is hit by an A/S car and pinned to the wall, don't the flames burn you too while you cannot get out?

Look at some of the early Top Stock images. The A/B/C Stock Eliminator guys had jackets while the Top Stock guys had short sleeve shirts. For those of you not wearing fire resistant pants, I'm going to help at the hospital again this weekend, come along with me and see if those bozo nylon pants help you at all. We won't even get into back/neck injuries...

[Johnny Rod]

Hey Dan would that little guy be SB?? LOL.

[Run to Rund]

Several years ago I welded tabs on the two sliding sections of each track and ran a bolt through the tabs to lock the seat. If the seat has to move, remove the bolt on each track.

[427_ED]

If you could get a couple of seat manufacturers to $hake hand$ with the NHRA ............

[Steve Polhill]

I've been saying it for years, But it's a sad State of affairs when someone has to get killed to change the safety rules. I know of very few racers that will complain when they update the rules to make his car safer.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Steve Polhill

I've been saying it for years, But it's a sad State of affairs when someone has to get killed to change the safety rules. I know of very few racers that will complain when they update the rules to make his car safer.

Steve, evidently you missed the guys complaining about being forced to wear real pants in Stock, as opposed to putting sweat pants or pajama pants on over shorts. Not all of them, but plenty of them. I wish it was unusual to have racers complain about safety improvements, but that has never really been the case.

Motorsports is continually in that sad state of affairs, at least half of our safety rules are written in blood, it has been that way for as long as I've been following motorsports. It is rare when it is different.

I can certainly see why people would be unhappy with the idea of ultra trick lightweight expensive aluminum fabricated seats in Stock Eliminator. Given the fact that there are a lot of truly purpose built race cars in Stock that can add or remove enough weight to legally run three classes I'm not sure I buy the issue about being able to move weight. However, those sheet metal seats do look very out of place in a Stock Eliminator car.

There is probably a way to reach a "happy medium", with something like a fully upholstered and cushioned aftermarket racing seat with an actual frame and springs, as opposed to the sheet metal fabricated seats with a layer of material on them.

[treessavoy]

The progression of safety issues in Stock and SS have, as Alan said, have come via blood, major incident or by stubborn individuals like Bob Mazzolini who put a dual master cylinder in his Max Wedge car and dared them to say anything.

How stock is stock? Will the NHRA let me do away with the required bench seat in my '64 Plymouth for non-stock bucket seats. Will the NHRA make a deal with a seat maker and therefore control the price of the seats. I know some of you will ask me how much I'm willing to spend to possibly save my life but I can't spend $2,500.00 for a pair of seats at this point.

Does the spectator (those few that watch) care about what seats are in Stockers? What performance advantage do safer seats give me?

Lastly, is this really a problem that needs to be addressed or (as usual) are we beating a dead horse here?

JimR

[Mickey Whaley]

Like i said before if they pass the rule to allow a racing seat let it be up to the driver if he or she wants one then everybody can be happy.

[Greg Hill]

Originally Posted by treessavoy

The progression of safety issues in Stock and SS have, as Alan said, have come via blood, major incident or by stubborn individuals like Bob Mazzolini who put a dual master cylinder in his Max Wedge car and dared them to say anything.

How stock is stock? Will the NHRA let me do away with the required bench seat in my '64 Plymouth for non-stock bucket seats. Will the NHRA make a deal with a seat maker and therefore control the price of the seats. I know some of you will ask me how much I'm willing to spend to possibly save my life but I can't spend $2,500.00 for a pair of seats at this point.

Does the spectator (those few that watch) care about what seats are in Stockers? What performance advantage do safer seats give

Lastly, is this really a problem that needs to be addressed or (as usual) are we beating a dead horse here?

JimR

Jim, look at my initial post. The seats I bought for my son's car looked a lot like stock seats cost around $220 each and were much better made than the old stock seats. For me to find a pair of 1970 Camaro seats, buy new foam, new springs, new covers and pay someone to upholster them would be around $1500. I would not favor allowing racing seats like the Kirkeys because they look nothing like stock seats. The procar seats I bought have tubular steel frames with steel springs and two locks on the sliders. The seat backs lock much more securely than any of the old stock seats.