Every racer should take safety equipment seriously, and that gear likewise needs to be rated appropriately for what ones is doing on the racetrack. Nobody wants to be in the situation where they wish they had purchased more safety gear after an on-track incident.

Since we’re stepping up the performance of Project Number Cruncher and Project Red Dragon we needed to get better safety equipment. Shopping for restraints, helmets, fire gear, and other items can get confusing with all the options on the market, so we reached out to Ben O’Connor at Impact Racing to learn about the safety gear options available to racers, and what you need to know when you’re buying gear.

Time To Buckle Up

Once your vehicle runs 11.49 or quicker the NHRA requires you to use an SFI 16.1 rated restraint system. There are five, six, and even seven-point restraint systems available, but which one you use will depend on your elapsed time, class, or vehicle type. These restraints will come with either a latching link or camlock-style latching mechanism.

You’ll find a lot of racers using restraints that have the latching link mechanism. Restraints with this latch are affordable, safe, and they’re not prone to failure. But there are some disadvantages to this type of latch according to O’Connor.

“The latching link style mechanism can be a little cumbersome to put together because you have to feed the tang through all of the different hoops, and then the tang goes through the lever. If you’re getting strapped in with your helmet on it can be difficult to look down and make sure everything is going through the right way. There is the slight chance that you may miss one of the hoops which could be catastrophic if something happens during a run.”

Camlock latches use a tang system that clicks into the mechanism like a road-going production car. These latches are much simpler to use since they don’t require a racer to hook anything together like a latching link. So, if you miss a shoulder or belt strap you don’t have to start over, you can just click each restraint into the camlock. This also makes getting out of the car easier if there’s an emergency, you just twist the camlock and all of the restraints are released.

The latching mechanism is just one thing to consider when looking at restraints — the next is the thickness of the webbing. For decades the standard was 3-inch webbing for all restraints, since it was believed they provided extra strength. It was also believed the textiles that were available required the webbing of the restraints to be 3-inches wide, but that thought process has changed, and 2-inch width restraints are now widely used.

“The most stringent standards of FIA and SFI homologation can easily be passed with belts that use 2-inch webbing. There are definite biomechanical reasons for using 2-inch restraints over 3-inch — in short, it’s safer to run a 2-inch restraint on the lap, and even on the shoulders when running a front head restraint (FHR). The 2-inch restraints sit lower in the hip pocket which allows you to get the center mass down lower, which helps prevent pelvic tilt, and it just allows you to get them tighter,” O’ Connor explains.

Just looking at these restraints you’d think the thicker 3-inch one on top is better, but you’d be wrong.

Two-inch restraints also work better when used as shoulder straps. If you’re wearing a frontal head restraint, they allow the device to sit better on you, and keep it closer to the centerline of your neck. The centerline of 2-inch straps stay closer to the center of your chest, and that will also help prevent sternum injuries if you crash. We went into much more detail about 2- versus 3-inch restraints in a previous article, and you can check that out right here.

We decided to use a five-point harness from Impact that features 2-inch restraints and a camlock mechanism. This harness will work perfectly with the Stand21 Club Series III FHR that we plan on using. A harness like this is a jack-of-all-trades type of product that will work in any vehicle that only needs a five-point restraint system. The 2-inch restraints will be easier to manipulate when we’re getting strapped in before a run.

The most stringent standards of FIA and SFI homologation can easily be passed with belts that use two-inch webbing. – Ben O’Connor, Impact Racing.

The proper restraints are just part of the safety equation…you also want to make sure they’re mounted correctly inside your vehicle. Restraints that aren’t mounted properly can’t do their job and can actually be dangerous.

“The angle that the shoulder restraint sits in reference to where it comes off the top of your shoulder and where it mounts back behind the seat is very important. That angle really should be no more than 10-degrees up or down from the shoulder centerline. You want to keep it as close to straight as you can, because shoulder restraints are there just to prevent you from moving forward if there’s a crash. You get the restraints too low and you can cause compression-type injuries to the spine,” O’Connor explains.

You also want to pay attention to the angle of the restraints lap in relation to the angle of the seat. The ideal angle is about 45-degrees from your body based on if your body sitting at a 90-degree angle. The restraints should be mounted this way to prevent you from moving around in the seat during a crash.

What To Wear To The Race Car Party

Fire is one of the scariest things you could face inside a racecar, and that’s why you should always invest in gear to protect yourself. The NHRA has certain SFI requirements for the fire protection gear based on the class you’re running, e.t and MPH, and the type of fuel your vehicle is using.

SFI has six different ratings for fire gear — as the final number of the rating increases, so does Thermal Protective Performance (TPP) rating. So a 3.2A/20 SFI rated product will offer more protection than a SFI 3.2A/1 product. The higher the rating, the longer it will protect you from second-degree burns.

Now, there’s a common misconception that the SFI number has something to do with the layers of material the suit has, but that’s not true. As mentioned before, that number has to do with the TPP rating, and the higher the number, the better off you’ll be if there is a fire.

“Gear that protects you from fire is buying you time, that’s all it’s doing…it’s giving you time to get away from the fire. You don’t know how long it’s going to take for help to get to you. Those additional seconds can really make the difference between preventing serious injuries or even death in some extreme cases. You want to use fire protection gear that will give you the best possible chance to walk away from an accident,” O’Connor states.

There’s a good chance we’re going to be running deep into the 8-second zone with our E85-powered Project Red Dragon Trans Am. Since that car runs on E85 and uses a turbocharger as a power-adder, we decided to step our personal fire protection from a basic 3.2A/5 jacket to Impact’s SFI 3.2A/20 jacket and pants. This combination will provide us with the most protection possible, and meets the NHRA’s requirements for vehicles that use E85 and a power-adder.

If you’re going 9.99 or quicker, you’ll need to look at getting SFI rated gloves and shoes. You will interact with your racecar the most through your gloves and shoes, so make sure they are comfortable but also provide plenty of protection.

“There isn’t a single driving situation where it’s not advantageous to have a thinner, more comfortable glove. Your hands are the primary location where you’re making contact and interacting with the vehicle. The better feel you have with the steering wheel, transbrake, and other buttons, the better you’re going to perform,” O’Connor explains.

Our Project Number Cruncher’s EFI system is going to be controlled by a FuelTech ECU, and this fact played a role in our glove selection. The FuelTech FT550 ECU uses a touchscreen for an interface, and Impact’s Phenom TS glove is designed to work with a touchscreen. The fingertips of the Phenom TS glove use material that makes using a touchscreen much easier versus a traditional glove — this is important for us since we might have to make last second adjustments through the FT550’s interface before a run.

You also want to select shoes that are comfortable, let you interact with the car easily, and have plenty of protection.

“You feel and control how the vehicle accelerates through the pedals; thinner driving style shoes can definitely be advantageous to make that interaction better. If you plan on wearing your shoes all day at the track you may want to look at shoes that have more robust arches and a thicker sole. You’ll also want to make sure it has a high enough SFI rating for your type of racing,” O’Connor says.

Racing shoes need to be comfortable so you feel at home inside your race car.

If you’re going to play the stripe in bracket racing you want a shoe that’s going to give you the most accurate throttle pedal feel possible. With that in mind, we tried on a few different shoes and Impact’s Alpha felt the most natural, so we picked up a pair. The nice thing about these shoes is they really feel like a normal sneaker, so there’s no adjustment period needed when you put them on.

O’Connor has some final thoughts about how racers should approach buying safety gear.

“We’ve got a saying in the safety industry, and that’s that no matter what car you’re in, the flames aren’t any cooler in a lower-class car than they are in a higher-class car. The threat of fire and potential injury is always there. You can’t go wrong buying higher-rated gear that goes above what’s required for your class, it’s money well spent.”

Helmets and Frontal Head Restraints 

The NHRA requires all helmets to have a specific SNELL or SFI rating based on the class or elapsed time/speed you’re running. SNELL ratings don’t change based on the material the helmet is made of, so a carbon-fiber or fiberglass helmet can offer the same protection. The advantage you gain from carbon-fiber versus fiberglass is in how much it weighs, and when you’re counting ounces in a racecar or on your neck and shoulders, that’s important.

A lightweight helmet can offer some additional protection if you’re involved in a violent crash.

“The less weight on your head, the less likely you’ll experience concussions and neck injuries if your head is whipping around during a crash. You’ll also reduce the risk of hitting your head on the roll cage during a crash, too. That’s where a lightweight helmet really can help, as it reduces the amount of energy your head and neck have to deal with during a crash,” O’Connor explains.

The helmet you select should be comfortable, so its weight does play into that, but another very important factor to take into consideration is the design of the eye-port area. Your racecar will influence the eye-port you’ll want, along with the type of racing you’re going to participate in.

“A wide field of vision is something a bracket or index racer is going to need so they can judge where their opponent is at the stripe. You need that additional situational awareness during the run, as well, so it becomes very important to have a helmet with a big eye-port. If you’re a heads-up racer that might not be as important, so you’ll look at a helmet that has an eye-port that will limit distractions at the tree. That’s why you’ll see some drivers even adding tape to the outside edges of their visors so they can really focus on the tree,” O’Connor says.

We’ve got a saying in the safety industry, and that’s that no matter what car you’re in, the flames aren’t any cooler in a lower-class car than they are in a higher-class car. – Ben O’Connor, Impact Racing

Taking everything O’Connor said into consideration, we elected to use Impact’s Phenom SS helmet. The Phenom SS is lightweight thanks to its Carbon-Kevlar composition and it has a large eye port too. These are two important features since we wanted a helmet that would be safe, and allow us to have a wide field of vision for racing at the stripe.

When you start going 9.99 or quicker you’re required to use either an SFI-rated neck collar or FHR depending on your finish-line speed. The FHR is available in several different styles and materials depending on how much money you want to spend to save weight. An FHR sits on your shoulders, and the shoulder restraints go over the top of it to hold it in place. Tethers are used to secure your helmet to the FHR…these are what prevent your head from overextending during a crash and protect your neck.

“The neck collar meets the basic rule requirements that the NHRA has laid out. An FHR takes things a step further and really offers more protection to the driver. Most sportsman racers are going to have the option to use either one, but the FHR is going to provide more protection if you’re involved in a serious crash,” O’Connor explains.

A horseshoe-style FHR like the Stand21 Club III we’re using doesn’t obstruct your movements much inside the car as some other styles might. One of the big reasons we selected this style of FHR is you can put it on yourself while inside the car. Also, if there is an issue and you need to get out of the car in a hurry you can pop this style of FHR off quickly so it doesn’t get hung up on anything as you exit the vehicle.

It doesn’t matter how quick or fast you’re going, you need to take safety gear seriously. The correct gear will ensure the tech director at the track won’t cut your raceday short, and it will also keep you safe when or if the worst unfolds. If you have any questions about the kind of gear you need, the NHRA rulebook is your best source of information.