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helmets

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 8:48 pm
by dondon
what year did the dragstrips start demanding heimets be warn by all competitors? I remember when I first start going to the strip (1967) that helmet were not needed.

Re: helmets

Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 9:20 pm
by engineguyBill
Depends on the dragstrip and the class that the car was entered into. There was no consistency in the helmet rules in the early days of dragracing and many of the old time helmets looked like antique football helmets. Many dragstrips had rules such as: helmet not mandated as long as the car was a street-driven vehicle with stock engine, stock exhaust, street tires, etc., etc. Many variations to these rules, such as stock cars with manual transmission must be driven by individual wearing a helmet (a lot of flywheels blew up in the early days of dragracing). There were no specifications related to helmets in the early days, and if the helmet "looked like" a functional helmet it was probably OK'ed for competition use.