Fuel line?

"I asked him about how wise that was, in case of an accident, and he said two things that made up my mind for me: 1 He said that he'd witnessed race cars whose fuel cells had fallen OUT OF THE VEHICLE, and were being dragged around the race course (driver unaware) and they eventually would pull the hose in two, before the hose would come off the fitting... with no clamp."


I hate it when people make comments like this. As an NHRA tech inspector I see lots of different types of car builds. I talk to the circle track guys next door to us and compare their tech to ours, it is always a good idea to see what other motorsports do for safety.
Yes, NHRA is strict when it comes to safety, but for good reasons, it saves lives and it keeps the insurance companies happy.

Now as far as the comment I seen racecars fuel tanks fall out, can only be attributed to poor quality installation. It has nothing to do with what type of lines the builder used.

I have seen high pressure oilfield lines fabricated with crimped ends used for fuel, hell if it withstands over 250 psi it sure as hell is good enough for 30 psi. And it is strong enough to withstand cuts and abrasions as well.

I could easily say, as an NHRA member and drag racer, that obviously the car in question was a stockcar and pigeon hole it in a category that all stockcars are built with the farmers method of building something, but that is not fair. I have seen many stockcars that were built properly and to the rules.

All you have to do is go to nhra.com and look in the rule book and it will tell you what is acceptable and what is not.