plance1 wrote:I would exempt the cost of safety equipment however much like Lemons.
Lemons is a completely different kettle of fish. I know, I've run it too. It's wheel to wheel racing (hence the safety equipment rule) and the whole purpose of the thing is to run the crappiest car you can for 24, er, 16 hours and have a low pressure blast while doing so. It's also one of those things where some people who show up just don't 'get it'; that's why there's People's Curse.
There was some discussion of the safety equipment thing a while back, specifically roll cages. Here's the deal: a roll cage can also be a chassis stiffening device which makes it a performance enhancement thus it counts toward the budget. Additionally the rules state that the really fast drag cars MUST have a cage. That puts the budget squeeze on guys like Andy Nelson who ALWAYS shows up with something that blisters the 1/4 mile, he has to be able to go faster on less money once the cage comes into play.
Me, I showed up in '06 to have a good time (which I did!) and to put my skillz up against people of like minds to see how I stacked up. I saw ingenuity and fabrication like I had never seen before, these guys made me look like a rank amateur (which I am). I was super pleased with a top 10 finish in this bunch. I want to do it again! I was a one man show last time, but now I have a bud here in town who appears to be thoroughly roped into us building a car. So next time it won't be quite so hard or take so long.
