A former holder of the World Land Speed Record observed that a sort of macho culture has built up in land speed racing which has resulted in cars being built with primitive primary and secondary safety concerns, leaving Bonneville drivers running unnecessarily high risks due to minimal safety structures.
Everyone who watched the video of Jason McVicar's separation from his bike at 240 mph saw that separating from his bike not only did absolutely nothing to shorten the distance McVicar traveled after leaving the bike, but that the bike could easily have ended up back on top of him.
Despite McVicar's crash, despite the fact it wasn't the first time a rider had separated from a land speed bike going 200 mph, despite Dave Owen's fatal crash at an ECTA meet, despite the fact personnel drag chutes have worked in drag boats for years, and despite the fact there is plenty of time before the next season for a sufficient number of rider drag chutes to be manufactured, the SCTA has officially chosen to ignore my very well informed advice about mandating rider drag chutes.
(In the attached photo of Larry Welch's rocket bike, designed and built by Arvil Porter, note the rider drag chute on Welch's back and the canard wings on Welch's bike.)