Before we re-invent the wheel, can I point out the obvious? Many of the problems at the track could have been caught with a thorough tech inspection. Broken stock axles in classes that require aftermarket. Lost wheels from missing lugs/studs. Fires from too much rubber line. Accidents in pits from missing neutral switches. At almost every track antifreeze is a no/no, but they never check for it in tech, then the track complains about it when it gets dumped on the racetrack. At this point I can't see why we need more rules to not get enforced, and tracks sure aren't going to spend money when it's the racers fault that their cars got damaged.

for the studebaker, a simple tray like this is all i had in mind:

http://www.divergent.org/mikes.vws/images/R32/skidplate/plate_on_4.JPG

if the track merely recommended a tray and the stude turned it down, then yep, his bad luck. BUT i would feel bad if someone turned down a tray and took out the guy in the next lane who put the time/$$ into his racecar.

i guess fontana has concrete walls because the sandy desert is not there to "decelerate" you like lacr or willow springs.

i read all your comments and you make a good arguments (even mentioning gaps that wouldn't cost anything to change, eg. procedures). Thanks.

In retrospect, the thread title is too "authoritative" and I didn't mean it that way.

Like someone else said, I think they have safety stuff as good as they can right now.
I've never raced, so maybe I'm off, but everyone knows that there is a chance they can wreck their car, opponents car, or even die doing this. But people are still going to do it because it's exciting. Just like sky diving, I'm guessing you think people should do that and land in a field of cotton and wear pillows .
But I've never raced on a track, so maybe I'm "off".

The Studebaker crashed because an oil line for the turbocharger came loose. A diaper or bellypan may or may not have prevented the crash, depending on the location of the pump/filter. So the safety gap was an oversite in assembly or maintenance, very difficult to police.

There are no diapers for the radiator, master cylinder, or differential, any of which could leak on the track if an oversight in maintenance occurred.

Many Comp eliminator cars are being built with bellypans instead of diapers now. The pans are effective on a car that has a dry-sump oil pan and upswept headers. Most Mopars have a deep wet-sump oil pan and chassis headers, making a bellypan unworkable. It is difficult enough to fit an engine diaper on one with a stock K-member and draglink.

One of our local tracks decided to mandate diapers on all cars 9.99 and faster. The car count in Super Pro dropped dramatically. Of the 50 or so cars they get on Saturday nights, about 40 of them are dragsters.