Amazing feat!!!!!

Most are not. That ET requires a cage, not just a bar. And if you read the FAST rules, they NEVER say car must meet the ET requirements on safety. They say the car won't be penalized under FAST rules for having the proper safety equipment. Which means they would rather the cars NOT have full cages, but if they do you won't be penalized for it

So all the safety stuff John was pi$$ing and moaning about in the Hellcat thread applies here too?

What about it John? Is Dave's car safer at 140 than the Hellcat? Never mind we all know the answer to that.

Some of you guys just don't get it. In the Mill we had a name for guys that were in that group. They were called " cement heads". Safety rules are in place to protect the stupid and to help keep insurance costs down. Guys be-itch about how much it costs to race and it's only going to get worse. Tracks will continue to close because of it. I will travel to race but most won't so if and when one of these cars wreck I hope your home track isn't affected. Have a great day.

Lee, That Challenger would belong to Brian Doyle... Great kid from a great racing family, with great racing friends. He built it from the ground up and replaced every bolt on it. Drives it to cruise nights around here all the time. Did you see how fast he went? I haven't spoken to him since the race. He was hoping for 11.50's in the good air.

Dave, Congrats. You're a hero to lots of us Mopar-heads. The Pontiac is impressive for sure, but this is a Mopar thread so.....

Like Monte said under 10 flat you need to have a full cage to be NHRA legal. I know alot of tracks let some of saftey rules slide some on the FAST cars and it may be because they look so stock. I love them and congradulate all of them as its hard work to get them cars to run that hard. I believe the FAST rules say any internal eng mods is legal as long as the eng sounds stock. Who determines what sounds stock ?? And they have to look stock externally. This class reminds me of the great attention the first Pro Stocks cars got in 1970 when everyone loved that class. Good luck to all of them. Ron

TommyD yes, yes. I had a senior moment on Brian's name.
Yes he went low 11.70's all day long while peddling it to keep the tires glued. Stripe and color were super cool.

Those cars are indeed impressive, but like mentioned above, safety first instead of splendor. I would hope that they all realize that a multi-point check on crucial parts become the norm. It is a relaxed environment, but if anything happens, it's going to send a shock wave heard around the racing world.

I think that the cars represent what we all dearly miss, that old days innocence and street smack talk and stalk that made us love the muscle era in the first place.
Personally, I wish that the rules indicated that a full roll cage would have to be implemented to the high rollers, but that the cage would have to be completely hidden. If I were to join the fun, ( and I can't) trust me when I say that I would have a rather unique hidden roll cage along for the ride.

I was checking tires and I gotta admit, when I saw something odd on one of the cars tire surface, or what's left of them, I hunted the owner down and brought it up to him. He at first chucked it off as something that is usual, but then I saw him asking another F.A.S.T cat about it to make sure.
At the start or end of it, we are all Brothers of the same kind. I want to see 'em race, but also I want them to get through the Amen corner safely.
They are a batch of nice keen guys that reflect what it must of been like with the Chrysler, GM, Ford and AMC engineers back in their hey day and nights.

So when its an era of cars you dig it's "pshaw! Those rules are only to protect idiots!" When it's a car you don't care for it's "uh oh, the hammer better come down on these unsafe new cars!"

BTW I'm not poo pooing either camp, they're all big boys and know how to handle themselves

Personally, I think some of the higher powered cars would likely work better with a full cage and some well placed tubing. But maybe they have tried and that isn't the case.............or maybe they just don't want to ruin the LOOK. Who knows, but if I was building one it would have a cage. You can never completely hide one and the a-pillar bars are the easiest to see. Now with a LOT of work you could sink most of the a-pillar bars into the actual pillar, but you would have to cut the car up and I doubt they want to do that either.

Yes, that is what I was thinking. Sinking the bars within the A and B-pillars and even down the quarter sills to the trunk/rear wheel well area. The halo is the easiest along the roof line underneath the headliner. The door/s jam would be a challenge indeed, but could be done. The only giveaway being the cross lower back bar tying the halo at mid section. Now does that constitute a full legal multi-point cage? not really, but safer than nothing at all. The set up would introduce unorthodox turns and mounting/anchoring points, but it could/should work effectively as far as performance. Safety is to be wondered.

The look of these cars is the main focus for the participants and especially the fans. It's a smoke and mirrors dream that this is what could have been. The black magic is in the tires themselves and since these cars leave rather soft and then settle into their respective cruise comfort upstairs, it would seem that everything is dandy. Most if not all of these cars have been built with some rather stout and stable engines. No violence at the line even with the STICK cars and not much of a burn out which I suspect brings turmoil to any drive train and suspension. Though, that being said, I bare witnessed to one of them without a bar/cage starting to wrinkle the B-pillar quarter panel section.

Most of these cars are civilian types and are not matching numbers $pecimens, only a few are real deal J-M-R-V-X-Y and Z cars so surgically cutting, fusing and making them safer would not be an issue other than a lot of work and planning which leads to $$.

The Firebird does have a cage.

LOL - this is a joke talking about a cage for cars that JUST NOW have broken into the 9's. How many guys are there that are running in the 10's or 11's and want to keep going faster? They keep trying and trying and then they barely break into the 9 second zone and everyone jumps on then to get a cage because it's not safe. There are plenty of guys/gals out there that tickle the next ET that requires more but they do not invest to run those numbers when at times they can not repeat it in different weather conditions. These F.A.S.T cars are breaking new ground and I'm sure they will comply with the rules as needed. NHRA and IHRA rules are different! So if the IHRA cars can run quicker with the same rules as NHRA does but a different ET break does that mean they are not safe? Boycott the IHRA???

So there we have it. The Firebird is caged. I didn't even take note since I was staring at the Pontiac mill in wonderment.

They all strike me as that even though they keep their own speed cards close to their chest, they very much keep a tight ship by keeping in touch and concerns about their safety.

My last two cents on this from my 6ix sense.

I never said they weren't safe, I answered the question asked, which was "are most of these cars legal for ETs run" and the answer to that, even for many of the slower ones is NO. Personally, I could care less.......it's your azz, do what you want. All I said was that I would cage one, because I think it would help the car overall........even an 11 sec one

Some of the other comments have to do with the pissing match that got started in the Hellcat thread, with that car being so fast and having little to no aftermarket safety equipment. Some seemed to think that was stupid, yet here we have the same thing and these guys are praised. Just a bit of a hypocrisy type thing. Like I said though, it's your car, your azz. Do what you want. If a track lets you run, have at it. If YOU feel good with it why should I care. My only concern on LACK of safety equipment is if it effects ME in the other lane. That being something that could potentially cause you to crash and hit ME. Just your personal safety........well that's up to you

I think the 10 second rule is just an arbitrary point. I was there at MRI Sat. and saw the two smash ups, neither wher going 140 mph and where tore up real good. If you're bouncing around on the track in a 10.50 or a 9.50 sec car, I think you'll see the same damage. Even at 80 mph, there can be substantial damage. Personally I want to be safe at that speed, my car will be 10.90 at best, but it will have a cage. Looks don't help when things go bad.

I'm not on the hellcat bandwagon, but. I will say, I'd feel A LOT safer in a hell cat at 140mph, than I would in. Road Runner at 140..... With both equipped with just harnesses. I've been in. '68 RR at just over 140 on the highway ( the bike he was racing was at 145 and the RR was even with the back tire...) car has only a bar and harnesses. I'd of felt much safer in something like a hellcat at that speed.

Nothing is 100% SAFE, only a arbitrary level of SAFER. Everything is arbitrary. As pointed out above, the cage level is 10.00. It could just as easily be 9.50 or 10.50. It's just a number somebody selected. So one day you are running 10.0s and your car is legal. The next day you run 9.90s and car is illegal. Is it ANY less safe than it was the day before? Of course not but the line HAS to be somewhere. I do find it odd that safety seems to be the area where most guys will push it to the absolute limit until they just HAVE to do something. They may not be willing to risk that motor on a stock rod and will update to aftermarket to "be safe" and then turn right around and slow the car down so they don't have to upgrade cage, buy a new suit, new helmet, whatever. Never made much sense to me, but it's their azz.

People die in 20mph crashes everyday and some die in 100mph crashes everyday. Many also walk away from such crashes without a scratch. Injury or not just depends on the circumstance. I personally have seen guys walk away from 300mph crashes and saw one die who simply broke an axle on the starting line. Anything can and will happen.

Are you guys still going on about this. Does anyone work around here. LOL

YOU started all this in the hellcat thread ......

I thought Dave sold the roadrunner and was running a superbee? Fast and very impressive.