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The first time I launched my blown FED, my head was yanked so far back that I temporarily lost sight of the track in front of me. So Fran and her sewing skills came to the rescue. She found a square of Styrofoam, wrapped it in imitation leather that she bought for under five bucks at a local fabric store, and sewed it up, then tie-wrapped it to the back of my roll cage. It made a fine head brace, and now, no more “blind” launches.
  The first time I popped my Stroud parachute, the pilot chute got wrapped up in the dragster’s wheelie bar wheel. So I found an old doorslammer window net and tie-wrapped it onto the wheelie bar. The pilot chute still got wrapped up on the wheel (granted, I was only going about 70 mph at the time, but on short tracks, you need all the help you can get). Again, Fran came to the rescue. We went back to the same fabric store and found a piece of fine mesh of the same type that rock haulers use to keep rocks from flying out of their truck beds and bouncing all over the highway. She measured the triangle of the wheelie bar, cut the mesh to fit and sewed it around the two top bars from middle-ways all the way to the end. Now I’m not worried about an un-deployed parachute when I go down track. |
 
Racing Association rules dictate that every racecar must have a working taillight, for night racing, and I found mine at a local parts store for about $5. It is routed through my Auto Meter volt gauge and is turned on by a simple $2 toggle switch. But wait! I also have a smaller red light on the rear of my dragster, and although it may not be kosher, it too is used as a taillight. The red light is part of my MSD Digital-7 Plus ignition box that is mounted above the digger’s floor pan. Believe it or not, this light can be seen at night when the ignition is turned on --- not as bright as the taillight, but enough to give off a bright red glow. The first time that wife Fran drove my car at night, I could detect not one but two red lights shining brightly as she went down the track. No, don’t depend on that MSD light to do all your “taillighting” for you, but in my book, two lights are better than one. Now for all you rear-engine dragster guys, just figure out how and where you can mount your MSD box so it can be seen from the rear too. 
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