It seems that, with Land Speed Racing, things are only several years behind NHRA (and drag racing in general). Rules, regulations, expiry dates etc... Never ending new rules.... More money monre money more money.....
We, in Canada, live under a tax regime where any and all sponsors of racing activities have been put under the microscope by our income tax department.... and usually have any and all racing expense deductions disallowed... it is why you will NEVER see ANY Canadian based/owned/sponsored professional racing teams in ANY type of racing..... The business names on both of our cars are there because the businesses are owned by the many people involved in our team.... I know this part is a bit off the topic but it is integral with peoples decisions to no longer participate in motorsports....
What it now sounds like, though, is that there is a product on the market that may well have been up to the task of containing shards of tempered glass and we have by and large had to replace our glass with lexan or the equivalent - even in the face of evidence that there were certain vehicles that were responsible almost exclusively for window blowout problems - such vehicles being the type that did NOT have full framed side or rear hatch windows.... which I am pretty sure is NOT McRat's truck (or pretty well every other, if not all, truck(s) at the salt) and it is NOT our Chevy Vega or many other coupes/sedans that are presently active...etc...
Although we DID replace our glass in the Vega.... it was NOT a happy choice to do so as we had installed the glass "for the long haul" - so to speak....
One side point touched on above - If you exceed 200 MPH at an event without setting a record and if the record remains at below 200 MPH, you ARE NOT bound by the rules that kick in at 200 MPH just because your vehicle has at tone time exceeded 200 MPH - The 200 MPH plus rules only apply when the existing class record is 200 MPH or over!.... AND - they DO NOT APPLY at the meet at which the record is set to 200 MPH or more - ONLY AT THE NEXT EVENT. We were in this position with the Vega at the W/Fs last year (the event that ended up not taking place) as the lexan issue was at a transitional speed of 250 MPH while the record was/is 245 mph. It was our plan to retire the Vega (and probably the 6142 Lakester as well) after 2011. We had hoped to have bumped the record to well over 250 MPH but.... we never got the chance
So, now, for this year it was spend more money - AND THEN mothball the car.
Many of us faced the same dilemma and we feel for you.... I just hope that your grocery stores and auto parts stores etc. have A LOT of half price sales between now and Speedweek so that you all can have the $$$ to get there. Take care and Godbless....
