I disagree with the title of both this thread and the Comp Plus article.
Passing tech is the responsibility of the car owner/crew chief, not the NHRA. There are many, many things that get looked passed on a normal safety tech (which for sportsman no longer occurs at nationals but on exceptional basis). We'd never get through tech if every item was confirmed.
It is my understanding that the part was not unapproved, but that the installation of the part made the set up illegal .... a weld bead was all that was necessary to "approve" it based on my understanding.
I'll bet a fair sum of money that someone else who really wanted to be the first one to break the record tipped the tech guys off .... all's fair in love and record runs! I'm not saying the tech guys aren't great, and they may well have caught it on their own, but I know they have a million combinations to look at, and many, many of us have close friends who are tech guys.
