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NHRA Tech says to DSR Top Fuelers "Take It Off"!

did anyone even consider whether this shield also deflected shrapnel coming into the cockpit?

That's another point of my post I forgot to add. It's a closed rollcage unlike the other teams, it not only "looks better" but how could it not be safer, it's common sense, as I said, there is less open space in a DSR TF cockpit, how is that not safe? Something is very very wrong here
 
At least Antron had his shoe strings which got burned off of Cory Mac's suit in the pre-shroud days. When there's a fuel line broken as it was in Antron's case, fuel tends to spray all around and a back might get singed.
 
Patrick, according to Graham Light: "DSR'S INTENT WAS TO SHIELD THE DRIVER FROM FIRE COMING INTO THE COCKPIT. THE WHOLE CONCEPT WAS FOR THAT REASON. THE WINDSHIELD....THE CANOPY ON THE TOP. IT WAS SUPPOSIDLY A SAFETY INOVATION TO HELP PREVENT FIRE FROM COMING INTO THE COCKPIT. BASED ON THAT INTENT, THE NHRA TECH DEPT LEGALIZED IT".
As far as keeping shrapnel out of the cockpit that was not presented as why DSR wanted this innovation.
Sounds to me if DSR wants to continue in the direction of the higher windshield and shroud they are going to have to possibly make some changes and provide additional support data to NHRA that proves the innovation requested will perform as sold to NHRA Tech. The aerodynamic people consulted have agreed that the changes as they are now are not performing as presented by DSR and could possible be a negative improvement.
With the improvements that DSR presented to NHRA not doing what they said they would they are basically ILLEGAL. They don't do what they were suppose to do.
It's in DSR's house now as to what their next move will be.
Plain and simple - make it work as advertised or drop it.
 
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The subject was not included in the Qualifying telecast...I kept waiting. However, my impression is that it's the windscreen and shroud together that create the advantage. I heard that it was, in fact, a performance advantage many months ago. But the thought was that there wasn't much anyone could do about it. My understanding about innovation is that it's fine, just so long as the product/part is available to everyone. But, I certainly could be wrong.
 
OK this sounds very similar to the Bike issue... Yet NHRA didnt make the Harleys get rid of there advantage in the middle of the countdown or at all... Just saying...
 
If you look at the video, the fire comes forward and into the cockpit through the opening and quickly subsides likely due to the lack of oxygen. The damage to the firesuit is minimal compared to Cory Mac's deal last year.
 
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On the fire coming into the cockpit, the same thing happened to Tony this season. I still think it's a great design, mostly because it covers up the roll cage completely.
 
To eliminate any possible complaints in the future about one team having an advantage over another (God forbid), NHRA should institute the concept used for the IROC races of years ago.

All the teams who want to play in the TF class will put X amount of money in a pot. NHRA will have X number of TF cars built ALL THE SAME except for the pedal locations and seat size. All cars will be tuned the same. No personal experience allowed here. At every race the drivers will draw numbers from a hat to see what color car they will drive. Then we will see who is the best DRIVER. :rolleyes:

FWIW.

Seriously, NHRA should have waited for the season to be completed before handing down this ruling. NHRA admitted they did not do their homework. Why should DSR be punished due to NHRA's mistake?
 
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Don has resigned from PRO now. Great job, Dim Light, Tom Compton and NHRA! /sarc :rolleyes:
Schumacher said he has no more interest in investing any more money or personal energy into helping improve the sport, whether it's for the sake of safety, enhanced fan experience, or, frankly, any other reason. Saying, "They have no use for me," Schumacher said, "I've spent way too much of my own personal energy and time and money."
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...er-still-steamed-bernstein-denies-involvement
 
OMG!!! Don has resigned from PRO! The world is coming to an end!!!

Like PRO had/has any backbone any way!!!

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Tomorrow, on As The Wheel Turns................

:D
 
Follow Maters, the issue is a sanctioning body abruptly altering the playing field for one group. Rules which were deemed OK for the previous 90% of the season. Rules which the NHRA was OK with as the season played out, until the 9th inning. i.e. Dear Josh Hamilton: You cannont use the bat type you have used all year for the World Series. Signed MLB. Really? This has nothing to do with innovation and availibilty and at this point I hope not safety (in October?). This is about credibilty in competitive commerce. This goes for taking away or giving advantages with 3 to go in a long season.
 
On the fire coming into the cockpit, the same thing happened to Tony this season. I still think it's a great design, mostly because it covers up the roll cage completely.

Follow Maters, the issue is a sanctioning body abruptly altering the playing field for one group. Rules which were deemed OK for the previous 90% of the season. Rules which the NHRA was OK with as the season played out, until the 9th inning. i.e. Dear Josh Hamilton: You cannont use the bat type you have used all year for the World Series. Signed MLB. Really? This has nothing to do with innovation and availibilty and at this point I hope not safety (in October?). This is about credibilty in competitive commerce. This goes for taking away or giving advantages with 3 to go in a long season.

Thank You.
 
The question now is how NHRA professional drag racing will regroup without DSR participation. Like him or not, he's got a lot of skin in the game.

I have a feeling we may be about to find out.
 
To eliminate any possible complaints in the future about one team having an advantage over another (God forbid), NHRA should institute the concept used for the IROC races of years ago.

All the teams who want to play in the TF class will put X amount of money in a pot. NHRA will have X number of TF cars built ALL THE SAME except for the pedal locations and seat size. All cars will be tuned the same. No personable experience allowed here. At every race the drivers will draw numbers from a hat to see what color car car they will drive. Then we will see who is the best DRIVER. :rolleyes:

FWIW.

Seriously, NHRA should have waited for the season to be completed before handing down this ruling. NHRA admitted they did not do their homework. Why should DSR be punished due to NHRA's mistake?

Judging by KB's quotes in the latest CompPlus story, he'd be ok with this (though Brandon would be my last choice in a race of equal cars, but I digress). If somebody comes up with a new design on a component, everyone else should have it?! I bet he didn't feel this way back when he was dominating FC and had the "Terrible Towel". I'd see no point in innovating for the sake of trying to win races if I had to just go give everyone else the same advantage.
 
As far as keeping shrapnel out of the cockpit that was not presented as why DSR wanted this innovation.

Terry...please cite your source regarding this statement.

As far as Antron's fire being the impetus of this issue, who is in a position to speculate as to how bad the fire could have been without the shrouding? While we can indeed compare apples to apples with Cory Mac's fire last year the end result is that Antron made it out of the fire with very little damage. That in itself should be enough to close this entire issue. Fire is a known entity in race cars. The fact that we've been able to mitigate the danger of fire to such a point is beyond amazing.

What happened here is another team embroiled in the championship battle was looking for ANY angle to exploit. As soon as the fire occured, said team was knocking on NHRA's door asking for a handout. The continued incompetency of the NHRA gave said team exactly what it was asking for.

The thing we should all be concerned with at this point is how big of a ripple effect will this have on Top Fuel and Funny Car in 2012? The loss of three TF sqads and four FC teams with the resources of DSR would be devastating to the sport. Far greater than any "uncontrolled" spending resulting from a simple piece of carbon fiber.

To end I will throw this back into Large Father's court. Was he not successful many moons ago in creating a fully enclosed driver capsule where fire and debris had a very small probability of entering the cockpit? And, did he not accomplish this feat without the aid of a wind tunnel, aerodynamic engineers, or computational fluid dynamics? Eyeball aero, more like it. If that is the answer then why in the hell are we not-once again-following his lead?
 
Judging by KB's quotes in the latest CompPlus story, he'd be ok with this (though Brandon would be my last choice in a race of equal cars, but I digress). If somebody comes up with a new design on a component, everyone else should have it?! I bet he didn't feel this way back when he was dominating FC and had the "Terrible Towel". I'd see no point in innovating for the sake of trying to win races if I had to just go give everyone else the same advantage.

Didn't there used to be a rule where any team that developed anything that got approved was granted 1 season of running it before others could produce their own?
 
Thinking about this more - While they're at it, maybe NHRA should have DSR stop using their 4-hole butterfly injector and taller, longer windscreen. These MUST be giving them a performance advantage and causing all the other teams MILLIONS of $$$ just to develop similar technologies.

By the way this was all tongue in cheek.............to an extent.
 
Wes, my source is Competition Plus where they quoted what Graham Light said.
As far as DSR no longer being involved that's a bunch of B.S..
DSR has way too much invested and has sponsor contracts that have to be fulfilled. I would bet if he just lays down and doesn't try to win races for his sponsors or parks the cars they will come back at him and even he can't afford that.
He's not going to get out of the game and him leaving PRO - so what, PRO hasn't had any b###s in years so that is no big deal.
Him going after Bernstein is out of line. I guess now that Bernstein has replied he will go after someone else.
I am a believer in what Kenny said about special made parts that one team has and others can't get.
 
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