The car is mobile enough to get it on and off the trailer to go get an NHRA chassis cert today. It was snowing with a cold wind when I arrived with the temperature hovering just above freezing. The car was really hard to start this morning. Injected alcohol hates the cold. Just like 3 years ago when I got my first certification, the crossbar behind the driver is too thin. I was sure I was told it was at minimum wall thickness and figured I could get recertified.

I did get the new recertification but I'm now told that the tube is below minimum thickness. Minimum wall thickness is 0.118". Using 0.120" DOM or 0.134" ERW has no problems passing but I watched him recheck the tube after scraping a little paint off and it came up at 0.109. Not sure where I originally got that tube from but it needs to be replaced.

The certification is good for 3 years but I'll pick up some new 1-1/4" tubing that has a thick enough wall that it will pass next time. Either that or I'll cut the tube out and install a funny car type cage which means putting in a whole bunch more tubing. Although I don't require a funny car car and it makes getting in and out of the car a real pain, the design is much nicer since the crossbar can be mounted low with supports going to the rear frame rails or rear crossmember.

A third option offered by the chassis cert guy is to leave the tube in place because the seat mount etc is all attached to it and just install a proper tube above or below it. That just means there will be two back crossbar tubes.

The car still isn't race ready. I haven't picked up new seatbelts yet. I still need to fabricate a transmission tunnel. The dash needs to be reattached. The throttle linkage was slapped together enough for the car to run but still need to be refabricated. Wheelie bar mounts still need to be attached plus a whole list of other small things need to be done. The cold miserable weather the last few months and no local track to race at has dampened my enthusiasm to get anything done.

I didn't even put the exhaust system on for today. I'm sure my neighbors loved me for the open headers. It was loud enough in the car with no transmission tunnel.

First race I could attend is at the beginning of May. I can't see myself getting on track until at least mid June or mid July. At least by June, the track will have the winter cold out of it. Racing in May is a roll of the dice. We can still get snow up to the end of May.

NHRA chassis cert is required at NHRA tracks if you run quicker than 10.0. Since I'll probably be getting an 8 second time slip the next time I get track time, I can't race at NHRA tracks without an NHRA membership, license etc. I race at IHRA tracks and under IHRA rules, you don't need a chassis cert until you get below 9.0 so technically if I stay out of the 8 second range, my cage does not need to be certified to race under IHRA rules. It's just nice to have that certification if for nothing more than a selling feature if the car is ever sold. We don't have an IHRA chassis cert but IHRA will accept all cars with an NHRA certification.

The car is legal to run as quick as 8.50. To get a 7.50 certification needs a lot more stuff and I really can't seen myself getting down to 8.50 unless I was racing at sea level or making a lot more HP with a power adder.

I got to see 3 other vehicles get certifications. There was a promod getting done when I arrived. Engine was incomplete so they pushed it out when it was done. Still looked impressive. After I drove my car inside the building a dragster with a bare block was pushed in and a mustang body sitting on a wheeled table was rolled in. A chassis cert is simply inspecting the cage in a typical door car or the entire frame structure of a tube chassis car/dragster etc. Nothing else needs to be attached. I didn't even have to open my hood to get certified. There was a mid to late 60's Nova sitting outside waiting to come in. It's a potential 8 second street car pushing close to 1000HP with power adders.

 

Good deal man.

Mine is IHRA cert'd, I'll never give the NHRA another dime of my money. Since we run "outlaw" stuff most tracks will accept either sanctioning cert per the SFI spec. - I know some NHRA tracks won't accept IHRA credentials though.

 

I agree. NHRA is not out to help the grass roots racers. If you don't pay the NHRA their fees, they won't let you race. IHRA is much more racer friendly. Costs are minimal until you hit 8.50 ET, then it's about the same for both sanctioning bodies but IHRA is still better.

I'm pretty sure the chassis certs use the same specs but NHRA still may not accept an IHRA cert because you never paid it to the NHRA. Competition license is different. Under NHRA rules, at 9.99 for the license, you also need to pay for a driver's medical. IHRA doesn't require the medical until 8.50. Just one more added expense.

 

Not sure about up there, but down here IHRA is A LOT cheaper for the chassis tag & for licensing.

My dad had been NHRA licensed for 40ish years and I had been for 5ish when we told them to shove it. NHRA stopped promoting drag racing a long time ago, they instead try to control it in an effort to line their pockets.

 

Unfortunately, some people live in a area where there are no IHRA tracks. You're then forced to pay the NHRA extortion fees to race. If you have a choice and are running quick enough where the extra fees make a difference, pick an IHRA track. 12 seconds and slower makes no difference. 10.00 to 11.99 is close to the same. 9.99 and quicker and there's a big difference.

Our local track is now gone. Next local track facility might open in 2015 but I highly doubt a dragstrip will be ready by then. A road course will go in first. I don't know what sanctioning body they're going to go with. If it becomes NHRA then I'm forced to join the NHRA at that time because it's easier to race locally than it is to travel. The next regional tracks are a 2-1/2 and 3 hour drive away. One is NHRA, the other IHRA. Another regional track is set to be open within the next couple of years. It's close to the IHRA track and they decided to get an NHRA sanctioning.

My next closest IHRA track is about an 8 hour drive through the mountains. IHRA division 6 is really scattered. As far east as Gimli Manitoba. As far west as Ashcroft BC. North to Anchorage and south to Montana. We just don't have the population density to justify a lot of tracks.

3 years ago when I got my first NHRA chassis cert, they had just jacked up the price. A 3 year certification just cost me $160 Canadian, taxes included. It used to be something like $75 for 3 years.

 

A few years back we were going to NHRA cert the car while at a race(cert was expired, only option within the time frame of making said race). - Track said they would have cert guy there so we went. Guy hits me for $265, saying the sticker was X, his drive mileage to the track was Y, and his time was Z. I was one of probably 20 cars that got cert that weekend, but each of us were charged as if he had shown up soley to do our car.

I came VERY close to being thrown out of the track that day, and it was a few months later when the NHRA mostly put a stop to that BS.


We cert'd the mustang IHRA 25.4 last October, guy drove 1-2hrs each way on a Saturday to meet me at a mid point between us, took the $75 for the sticker & tried to argue with me about giving him extra to cover his time/fuel even though I was the only car being done.