I'm a little confused about the following line the NHRA rule book.

"Open drivelines passing any part of the driver's body must be completely enclosed in 1/8-inch (3.2 mm) minimum thickness steel plate, securely mounted to the frame or frame structure."

In my car my arm sits on top the driveshaft tunnel which runs right next to my waist. It has a front and rear drive shaft loop. Personally I don't feel very safe like this. A u-joint failure would be ok but a drive shaft failure would come straight out the tunnel.

My question is in my case is an enclosure required by the rules? If yes can it cover just the top and sides since the X bracing protects the bottom? Can a thinner 4130 plate be used such as?
http://www.jerrybickel.com/driveshafts-and-components/driveshaft-cover-only-jbrc1002-24.html

Thanks

You can add it if you feel safer BUT the rule was
designed for cars like a altered where the driver sits
pretty much on the rearend and the drive shaft is
between his/her legs... I know when I build my brothers
altered I had to install the thick plate... actually
used a piece of heavy wall tube(but his car had a
fixed rearend, no movement). This is what it use to
be for... I havent checked the rule book in about a year

I have one of those on my car. I believe they are only necessary if your driveshaft loops are more then 6" away from the ujoint but don't quote me on that. At first I did not like it as it's quite a pain to work around but it sure does make you feel safe having it in there. They are pretty darn heavy.

If you're running Top Sportsman or a lower class, then it's not required to run a full driveshaft enclosure, unless you're in an altered.
Pro Mods are required to have one, because the driveshafts are actually exposed, because they don't have to have an interior.

that makes sense as my car is a promod disguised as a TS car!
although I don't see what protection a thin piece of tin would give you

I've seen pro-mods with a full belly pan and no tunnel. They have a the enclosure for the drive shaft. I think a tunnel and 2 loops your good to go.

Mine covers all of the drive shaft that is in the car and is made out of moly. The pictures are not the greatest but you can see it.