For most of you it won't have any effect. NHRA has always said that a roll bar is required at 11.99 and quicker. They now have an updated rule concerning all T-Top cars.

In Super Pro, Pro and Sportsman ET bracket racing, T-top design vehicles will be required to have a roll bar if the car runs between 11.00 and 11.99. No big change there, however, If the vehicle runs 10.99 and quicker a roll cage is required.

The old rules allowed you to run to 10.00 with only a roll bar if the floor and firewall were unmodified. Now T-top cars can only run to 11.00 with a roll bar but still don't need to get one until 11.99 which was the old rule anyway.

I'm going IHRA next year so the rules are slightly different but my car is now not considered legal for an NHRA track. It's not going to be a problem anyway because my old 6 point bar is coming out shortly and a full 12 point cage is being installed because I'm knocking on the door of 9's. I should have the cage kit in my hands by next week.

 

im pretty sure i read on several places that that new rule is a hoax....... im not trying to be a ***, but whats your source for the info?

 

www.nhra.com

 

cool.


wasnt trying to be a ***...

 

Well that bites the big one. I guess IHRA all the way for me. Don't really want to put a roll bar in the car but I might end up with one anyway if I keep playing with it.

I guess that would mean I'd have to take out the baby seat?

 

Been a card carrying NHRA racer for years, but I am finally seeing why people make the switch to IHRA. It seems like we build a car and then have to tear it apart a year later from rule revisions. I am in the same boat as steve, won't be legal in NHRA, so next year we are making the switch.

 

Although running at 2 IHRA tracks here in Alberta I won't need a chassis certification, I will have the cage ready for an NHRA inspection in the springs. I still have other regional tracks that are NHRA to race at.

If it doesn't pass an NHRA inspection, it can still be used at the IHRA tracks because it doesn't need to be inspected until 8.99 and quicker.

With the changes I'm doing this winter I should be low 10's locally which means at every other track I visit I should be in the 9's since we're the highest elevation track in the region.

 

Well guess what? I just got National Dragster for this week, and on page we see that the NHRA has amedned this T-top rule already. "On t-top design vehicles with an unaltered floor, firewall, and body running between 10.00 and 10.99, a roll bar is permitted in place of a roll cage."

 

Then the rules are back as they originally were. The only thing they changed was that a 10.0 - 10.99 T-top car needed a cage. I haven't seen the ammendment yet but I'm sure NHRA got a lot of complaints from all the T-top cars out there not just F-bodies who only have a roll bar and run in the 10 second range with unmodified floor and firewalls.

My 6 point bar is already out. I haven't started installing the cage yet. Since I'm knocking on the door of 9's, a cage is needed.

 

PhilM is correct. I emailed NHRA last week and this was there reply:

Charlie,
No rule change is being implemented for T-Top design vehicles.

As required before, a roll bar will be mandatory in all cars, including T-Tops, which run 11.00 to 11.99.

A roll cage is required on all vehicles 10.99 and quicker except as noted below.

This is no different that before.

When do I need a roll bar or roll cage?
A roll bar is required in any convertible running 13.99 seconds or quicker in the quarter mile, and in other cars beginning at 11.99. The roll bar is accepted in vehicles running as quick as 10.00 second e.t., provided the stock firewall and floorboard is intact, other than for installation of wheel tubs.

If the floor and/or firewall has been modified, then a full roll cage is required beginning at a 10.99 e.t. A full roll cage is required in any vehicle running 9.99 seconds or quicker, and any vehicle running 135 mph or faster (regardless of e.t.).

Hope this helps,

NHRA Tech Dept.

 

I don't think a hard top car with a roll bar would offer any more roll over protection than a t-top car with the same roll bar. perhaps this is what they realized....