R.I.P. palm beach raceway

[Vlad Soare]

I have a helmet that I used twice at the drag strip, it was a at the time 580.00 simson in 2003 money.
It was always put back in the box and in the basement, The snell rating/date now makes it a paperweight, same with the 5 point harness, jacket and shoes.
To go to the track and really get after it, I'll have to get a new 600.00 helmet, new belts, And new jacket ,gloves and shoes ( last 3 my choice, )

Why is that? I understand that helmets are constantly evolving, and that today's helmets give better protection than the 2003 model used to give back then. But if in 2003 you were happy to trust that helmet with your life, then why shouldn't you trust it now? It's still the same helmet, and it still does exactly the same job that it did back then. It's a helmet, not a fish. It doesn't rot, it doesn't go bad just by sitting in a box. Why should a solid piece of reinforced plastic (OK, not plastic, composite material, whatever) have an expiration date? Same for jacket, harness or shoes.

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[ICU812]

Why is that? I understand that helmets are constantly evolving, and that today's helmets give better protection than the 2003 model used to give back then. But if in 2003 you were happy to trust that helmet with your life, then why shouldn't you trust it now? It's still the same helmet, and it still does exactly the same job that it did back then. It's a helmet, not a fish. It doesn't rot, it doesn't go bad just by sitting in a box. Why should a solid piece of reinforced plastic (OK, not plastic, composite material, whatever) have an expiration date? Same for jacket, harness or shoes.

Yup. They have a standard in the case of the helmet (snell)
The belts for the 5 point harness have a date, the jacket, the pants, the shoes, the gloves, the Engine balance, the flexplate, And on and on it goes.
The Ruling bodies of drag racing that most tracks follow, have made it very costly for people that are not racing week in and week out.
The roll bar or cage at set speeds needs a chassis cert. That sticker is dated.
This stuff makes sense for the guys racing every week end, As a helmet after that much use is needing to be replaced, same with the jacket, pants, shoes, gloves, engine parts, and so on.
I haven't seen a rule book in a few years, but I want to say, I can still use my driving suit(pants jacket) and helmet for anything full bodied(vehicle) that is slower than 12.seconds. but don't quote me on that.
So worthless in my car that when pushed all the oats, can run way under that number like almost a full 3 seconds under. I haven't had it at the track since before 2012 so it might have lost some speed from lack of keeping up on it.
Tracks are stuck in the middle of a rock and a hard place.
To keep liability insurance they have to follow the safety guidelines, the NHRA and others set. problem is for the guy that goes few times a season, is hard pressed to want to invest in that much gear for it to date out of code(use) before they get much use out of it.
The gate fee to get into the track to race is only the start of the cost.
The run it at odd hours elsewhere ends up being the goto.

 

[ICU812]

Then you have the racers eating their own.
The class racers, hate the bracket racers, the muscle car guys hate the import guys, the old school muscle guys hate the new breed muscle, and on and on.
What happens then is many that enjoyed the racing, stop going because of the hate they get at the track from the other racers that see that niche of the sport wasting daylight that they could be using to get in more passes.
Many are not nice about it either.

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