Pretty wild, vast majority pointing the finger at the NHRA, insinuating that NHRA is dead against innovation. Excuse me while I offer an alternative view (my take)
Not knowing anything else but what I read in the article, Don went to NHRA proposing a safety improvement (I don't know what that improvement was... but I assume it was for fire protection) - the shrouded cockpit. NHRA takes Don at his word and allows the improvement. Then the Reading fire happens, and they snap a photo of Antron with fire in the cockpit. If my assumption is correct (that the reason for the shroud was to prevent fire from entering the cockpit) the innovation has been proven to be ineffective with that Antron fire pic.
If that's the case, why would Don be so opposed to removing the ineffective safety device? I can see how one might reason that there must be some sort of performance advantage. I guess we would need an answer to the question what is safer about having the shroud if not fire protection? If there is no answer to that question then there's no reason to have a shroud in the first place, therefore why not clear up any misconceptions about a performance advantage and dis-allow it.
Maybe the safety innovation has nothing to do with fire, and my whole understanding of the story is garbage. In which case there's more to the story that I really can't form an opinion about. Maybe removing the shroud at this point puts the Schumacher teams at a dis-advantage, then it's continued use would be up to the Schumacher team.
I can also see how this whole experience would make the NHRA reluctant to allow any innovation in the future. There's probably some curve somewhere describing the benefit / cost ratio when describing innovation in today's fuel cars. I would guess that over the years the benefit / cost ratio has decreased significantly. Therefore it becomes more difficult to allow innovation when considering how teams are struggling today just to make a pass.
And there has been innovation over the years... the injectors are higher, different shapes, the front wings are mono now, the spill plates have those wierd shapes cut into them, the set back blower.. and probably a **** load of internal stuff I can't even see.
NHRA has a tough job keeping everyone happy, I wouldn't want to do it. And maybe it was a bit un-professional to allow something based on someones word (so the story says). Maybe a trial period or something. Having an engineering background, I would think that having the shroud would result in cleaner air flow to the injector, maybe rear wing- which would be an advantage wouldn't it? If you allow that, I bet the engineers would come up with some pretty wild fins and shapes to get more air to the injector, while not actually touching the injector.
