The NHRA instituting new rule changes is nothing new, but renowned chassis and car builder Brad Hadman, a noted chassis builder for 38 years, believes the sanctioning body doesn’t have a reciprocal relationship with drivers when it comes to the issue of safety.

“I feel like it always gets passed off on the racer to make it safer to do this and to do that,” Hadman said. “It is still the age old argument and we’ve never improved our race track. That’s the same netting system, the same crap they have had for 100 years. Are they (NHRA) going to change it? Probably not because they feel like it is the way it is. I look at being proactive and NASCAR got into soft walls and they’ve tried to do things to minimize the injuries in their sport, and we haven’t. There are other things we could institute into the ends of our race tracks that could make them far safer than they are right now. The racers have paid their fair share trying to keep up on the safety rules that they (NHRA) make and I feel it should be the same in turn. They (NHRA) should make as big of an effort on their end, as they expect the racers to do.”

Hadman's feeling's aside, the NHRA acted quickly to amend its rule book following the on-track death of Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver Sunday at the Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash. Niver died when his dragster crashed into the safety net at the end of the Pacific Raceways track and it buckled the chassis into the driver cockpit.

The NHRA instituting new rule changes is nothing new, but renowned chassis and car builder Brad Hadman, a noted chassis builder for 38 years, believes the sanctioning body doesn’t have a reciprocal relationship with drivers when it comes to the issue of safety.

“I feel like it always gets passed off on the racer to make it safer to do this and to do that,” Hadman said. “It is still the age old argument and we’ve never improved our race track. That’s the same netting system, the same crap they have had for 100 years. Are they (NHRA) going to change it? Probably not because they feel like it is the way it is. I look at being proactive and NASCAR got into soft walls and they’ve tried to do things to minimize the injuries in their sport, and we haven’t. There are other things we could institute into the ends of our race tracks that could make them far safer than they are right now. The racers have paid their fair share trying to keep up on the safety rules that they (NHRA) make and I feel it should be the same in turn. They (NHRA) should make as big of an effort on their end, as they expect the racers to do.”

Hadman's feeling's aside, the NHRA acted quickly to amend its rule book following the on-track death of Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver Sunday at the Northwest Nationals in Kent, Wash. Niver died when his dragster crashed into the safety net at the end of the Pacific Raceways track and it buckled the chassis into the driver cockpit.

On Wednesday evening, NHRA issued new rules governing the use of carbon fiber brakes and other devices meant to assist the driver in slowing down the race car, including automatic parachute deployment systems.

Graham Light, the NHRA’s senior vice president-racing operations confirmed Wednesday Niver was using steel brakes in his dragster during his fatal run.

The NHRA also is working with manufacturers on a secondary tethering device for parachutes in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny classes. This is in addition to an enhanced specification for parachute mounting for the same four classes that was introduced earlier this year.

Multiple mounting points could have kept Niver's chutes attached to his car.

“Like what happened to Mark (Niver) that (parachute) shroud would be tethered to where he had it, but there would also would be another mount,” Hadman explained. “Your chute would have two anchoring points on the tether, so if one let go, the other would hold it. That’s not a bad idea because in the last couple of years, we have had a lot of chutes just come off of cars, whether it was a bolt that failed or someone didn’t put the bolt in. If it would have been a double attachment that would probably stop a lot of that.”

Niver’s parachutes tore away from his dragster right after he crossed the finish line.

“The way the chute was mounted on Mark’s car could be a problem,” said Hadman, who owns Brad Hadman Race Cars in Tacoma, Wash. “It became a problem because it had mounts and it was a tube that just crossed from side-to-side with no other support. Usually at the rear-end upright, there is a cross tube at the bottom and a cross tube at the top, and Mark had his (parachutes) mounted on the cross tube at the top, in the middle of the tube. So it’s pulling on a tube that probably is 13 inches across, and that was it. The way Mark mounted his parachute is a real popular way to mount it in Super Comp and Top Comp. He would have never done it (mounted his parachutes that way) if he thought the result was going to be what it was.”

In the cars Hadman builds, he mounts the parachutes in a different manner.

“In our cars, we mount them (the parachutes) down on the bottom side of the rear end, so it is on the bottom of the chassis,” Hadman said. “Most cars anymore are live axle rear ends, so they are an aluminum, so we make a bracket that bolts to the bottom of the housing and then it has that cross tube in the chassis. Then, we weld one-inch tubes from our bracket that bolts to the bottom of the housing into the corners of where the cross tube and the main bottom rails intersect. Our load is pulling from the outer edges, not in the middle of the tube. Then, our chute bracket anti-rotation device is all one piece. So, if that anti-rotation device broke out of the corners of the chassis it is still bolted to the bottom of the housing. It’s pretty hard for it (the anti-rotation device) to come off and I have never had one come off ever. We’ve been mounting parachutes like this in our cars for quite some time, at least 10 years. It does two things, it keeps the rear-end from rotating, but it’s all tied to the chute mount, so the whole load of that chute mount isn’t just relying on the bolts and the bottom of that housing.”     

At the Northwest Nationals, and all other tracks to date, only two top alcohol dragsters were equipped with automatic parachute deployment systems. It should come as no surprise to learn those two dragsters are piloted by Courtney and Brittany Force.

Hadman is hopeful Niver’s death will not be in vain.

“Hopefully, we will learn from this and move forward and it never has to happen to someone else,” Hadman said. “You want to think that there is always good that comes out of someone dying and hopefully we get a rule that will help somebody else. I hope it is a really good rule because he (Niver) was a really good guy.”    

Robert Hight, driver of the Auto Club Ford owned by John Force Racing, Hight believes it is probably time to look hard at the chassis under the Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car, in the same way the Top Fuel Funny Car chassis was made over.

Hadman, however, doesn’t see overhauling the chassis on Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car as a top priority right now.

“That really hasn’t been an issue,” Hadman said. “The (alcohol) cars are not breaking like the fuel cars were. Fuel cars were going 337 mph when they (NHRA) decided they needed to do something. The chassis really are not an issue (with the alcohol dragsters and Funny Cars).”

In addition to changing how parachutes are mounted, NHRA is requiring a radio frequency-activated shutoff device, which shuts off the fuel supply, cuts the ignition and deploys the parachutes if the driver has not done so after passing the finish line, beginning in 2011 for the Top Alcohol classes. This device has been mandatory in Top Fuel and Funny Car since earlier this year. Top Alcohol drivers may install the receiving device on their vehicles and use it immediately at all of the remaining 2010 national events.