Pages 258 and 259 tell us the expiration periods of various "needs" for our racing, such as dragster chassis inspections (usually three years), flexplates (three years), and flexplate shields (five years).

As for those SFI ratings for straightline racing, you'll learn through its web site that a jacket or pair of pants with a 3.2A/1 rating ("3.2A" is for driver's suits) has a thermal protective performance value of six, which means that it will take three seconds from the time of the initial introduction of a fire on the piece of safety clothing to the time the wearer experiences second-degree burns. A 3.2A/20 piece of safety clothing has a thermal protective performance value of 80, which means the wearer is safe from second-degree burns for 40 seconds.

Better put for us Super Pro and Pro racers, the NHRA rulebook tells us that any vehicle exceeding 135 mph or going from 7.50 seconds to 9.99 must have its driver outfitted in pants and a jacket that meet SFI specs 3.2A/5, and gloves that meet SFI specs 3.3/1. The SFI 3.2A/5 spec has a thermal protective performance value of 19, which means there's a 10-second window between the introduction of a fire and a second-degree burn to the skin and body. Ten seconds! I banged my Super Gas Datsun against the wall at Macon, GA Int'l Dragway one time, and it took me a minute to figure out where I was, I hit the roll cage so hard. Imagine if the car was on fire. Ten seconds is nothing!

Concerning racing helmets, they are tested and rated by the Snell Memorial Foundation, begun in 1957 by friends and colleagues of William "Pete" Snell, an amateur sports car racer who was killed in an open-cockpit race car at a track in California in 1956. He died of injuries in the crash because, according to Snell general manger Steve Johnson, the state of the art in helmets at that time was nothing more than leather and paper mache. You could pass tech back then --- assuming there WAS tech --- wearing a football helmet.

That's what I wore when I made my first pass down a drag strip, in a C/Altered Hilman Minx at Helena, AL Drag Strip in 1965. Never again.

We racers must have Snell-approved helmets with the prefix "SA" somewhere on them. That "SA" stands for "special application," and they must pass more stringent testing by the Snell Foundation than those rated "M," for motorcycle riding. And each and every new helmet that is offered to the racing public is first tested in the Snell Foundation's test facilities in California. Each is pounded, pummeled, banged and hammered to see if it protects properly. And each "SA" type, by the way, is painted with a flame-retardant paint, unlike the "M's," for motorcycles, which aren't.

The bottom line for what you need to go racing this 2004 season? Get a 2004 NHRA rulebook and go to the last three or four pages in it.

If you have questions, call a divisional office and ask for the information. They'll likely refer you to a division tech man, who knows the book forward and backward.

Click on those web sites I wrote about in the beginning of this story.

Get an association newspaper and look in the ads for three or four safety items manufacturers, and then call them up and start asking the questions. The same goes for helmets.

So you don't race at a member (read: outlaw) track, and tech there is at a minimum? Do you look at those NHRA and IHRA guys and ask yourself, "Do I really need all this safety crap to race my 10-second Camaro?" Well, okay, then ask yourself these questions: how much is my head worth? My hands? My feet? How much time am I going to be in recovery while my burn blisters heal? What about when the bills start coming in? Who is going to feed my kids while my brain swelling starts going down to normal again?

Luckily, I was wearing a Snell-rated helmet when I banged against the wall at Macon (and I was still goofy for three days afterward because of the blow). Luckily, I've had only one minor wiring fire in my first front-engine dragster years ago, with no "hurts." Some folks, however, aren't so lucky, and we read about them and shake our heads and say, "Ain't that a shame." Yes, it is, and it is also a shame that we gripe and fight about association rules concerning our safety.

We shouldn't.