- WHY do you have to throw away a perfectly good transmission shield after a few years because the SFI tag is expired?
- WHY do you have to throw away a safety harness after two years even though you might have never used it and it has been stored in the garage?
- WHY do we have to either replace or re-certify an aftermarket transmission case after a few years even though it may have been used very little?
- WHY do we have to certify our roll cages and chassis every few years but in between you could replace tubes and change it entirely during your “certified years?”
- WHY do we have to certify our chassis if you run certain ET’s but they don’t inspect or even mention the welding that was done?
- WHY do we pay for Competition Licenses? Shouldn’t they be something we earn as we develop faster race vehicles and gain experience?
- WHY do we need NHRA to mandate engine diapers or belly pans after all these years? Isn’t track clean-up a cost of doing business?
- WHY does it seem to me that almost all of the above rules ARE JUST LIKE ANOTHER TAX? They cost us money and what is the reason?
- HOW can an aluminum transmission shield get “weaker” in three or four years?
- HOW can a safety harness that hasn’t been used need replacement in two years. Shouldn’t they have a way to mark them when they are being used?
- HOW can a transmission case or steel liner wear out or get weaker in a few years so that it would need to be recertified? Is it re-tested or do you just pay for the new sticker?
- HOW is it that we pay to have a chassis certified but it’s never checked again for three years? Couldn’t it have been worked on?
- HOW can they check for tubing thickness down to the .001” but never mention the welding process or appearance when certifying a chassis?
- HOW did they come to the conclusion racers who build the fastest and best race cars should have to pay to get a Competition License and pay for a physical examination? Shouldn’t you just earn the right to have a Competition License?
- HOW can sportsman racers be mandated to use engine diapers at Divisional and National events just to save a few minutes of clean-up time?
- HOW can all of this just happen? Because we have let it happen. All the things mentioned above are just another form of TAXES!
We, by that I mean most racers, care about safety. It is our asses on the line and our equipment. Having to replace metal transmission shields, pay for Competition Licenses
and that kind of stuff, is simply “Taxation without Representation”. You remember, the thing that got our forefathers so wound up.
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Can anything be done? I don’t know. I would think a grassroots organization that represented sportsman racers could reach out to the NHRA and IHRA and get some of the frivolous rules thrown out. It would save us all money we are wasting on needless replacement of perfectly good items. What can we do? I say let’s start by getting a petition ready for racers to sign that we want representation when it comes to rules that cost us money.
It’s time for a revolution. It can start in small ways and hopefully end up with the Grand Prize: ”a Government for the People by the People.” All the bureaucracy has to start going away or our kid’s generation will be doing nothing but working and paying taxes. THAT IS NOT FREEDOM!
To that end you now probably know too much about my political views and if Burk prints this I am glad you took the time to read it. We can’t keep burying our heads in the sand. It is time to start the ball rolling back to the basics. If we don’t, the things we love like drag racing, riding Harleys, burning gas in the golf carts and not car-pooling will all start to be stolen from us by the Washington, D.C. politicians we elected and now can’t get rid of.
Have a great month and if you have to use the toll roads to get to the race, maybe try the two-lane highway and see the countryside again..
