Does nrha allow magnesium wheels? I was talking to guy at the Roadsters swap meet yesterday who was selling some magnesium wheels because he says NHRA will not permit their use. I have never heard of this before. Is it true?

I did a Google search and found an answer that magnesium is prohibited, but I can't find the specific section in the rule book.

That might depend on class. As you know the faster classes have to have SFI wheels which old "mag" wheels wouldn't be.

I opened a PDF of the NHRA general rules, and did a text search for magnesium. Nothing about wheels came up. They did say no magnesium floors, firewalls or seats.
For my question, I would need to know for general safety rules, not for any specific class requirement.

Depends on class and speed. Some classes require SFI wheels.......some don't. You go to the Hot Rod reunion, you see old gassers and alterds everywhere with old school wheels. So again depends on class an speeds involved

Steve has been running magnesium wheels on the front of his 64 Dodge for at least 5 years now. Never had a problem.

I'm not aware of a non-Mg rule for wheels or anything other than what's in the cockpit. They don't want any in the cockpit area for sure, in case of fire. Never had a problem in Tech with my Mg front wheels even when I'd mention them, but then again before I got it the car ran SS for many years with an aluminum driveshaft loop, among other "extra-legal" things...
A Mg fire is notoriously hard to put out, however, so it wouldn't surprise me if some inspectors frown on its use on non-vintage cars.

Can you even put one out?

As I recall the stuff can spontaneously combust in water.

Kevin

Powdered magnesium fires are the one that are hard to put out, as far as the real mag wheels I had a set of Motor Wheel Flys or Spyders mags. on my old bracket Belvedere Never got hassled about them at any race in Division 7 yrs ago

You should see what happens when someone mistakes magnesium for aluminum and starts cutting it on a lathe.

Section 5.2 of the NHRA rule book under general regulations covers wheels ( and section 5 of each class ) - there is no rule specifically prohibiting magnesium wheels. As Monte and a couple others posted certain classes specify SFI spec wheels, generally the cars that have the capability of running quicker than 6.50 et ( like Top Sportsman for example ) and the Pro classes. And the tech inspector can deny using a wheel for visual defects, like cracks. If the swap meet seller had the wheels on say, a fuel funny car, then yes he's right, they're not legal, but otherwise no specific rule prohibiting them. I will say, you are always at the mercy of what an individual tech inspector at any given track may allow.

Oh nooo (in my best Mr. Bill voice). What happens when you try to wash them, huh? I think someone is confusing metallic Sodium with Magnesium. Years ago, I had real Magnesium wheels on the front of my 67 Caprice Jr. stocker. Even though they were classified as lightweight wheels and may not have been technically legal, a can of black paint camouflaged them. I even had several tech inspectors comment on how ugly the wheels were. Little did they know how light they were.

As has already been covered here......unless the class calls for a wheel with an SFI sticker, they are not going to care what they are made of, as long as they appear safe

The biggest question would be, will they hold up to 1000 miles of street use during Drag Week? I know that is what you want to put them on, BUT that would be the only concern.

How much lighter is an "old school" magnesium wheel versus a modern state-of-the-art aluminum wheel. I would think the weight difference is insignificant.

I've tried talking Joel into a new set of wheels, but this is for his '31 Plymouth he is building for Drag Week's Hot Rod class, and wants to be light but keep a vintage look to it.

With a trailer, Joel could use new light weight wheels for the track, and his current vintage looking wheels and tires for the street.

Magnesium fire, FF to 1:12.

Thanks for all the info. I had a guy weigh his 15x10 American magnesium wheels, they were 17.5 Lbs. each. Then I weighed my 15 x 10 aliminum Rocket Strike wheels, they are 21 Lbs each. Jerico is right, I will only use a retro styled wheel on this car, nothing modern looking. I don't think I'm going to pay all the big $$ that old magnesium wheels fetch to save that little bit. I can save more pounds for less $ elsewhere. picture of 7.5 lb American Mags on ebay for $1600:

I loved the motor wheel flys myself! Super light!

Theres a set of flys on ebay for 3000$ Ouch!