When drag racing was simple

[wowens]

Randy Payne with no helmet, was racing Harold Dutton

[cattleFEeder]

Helmets are for sissies, and limit vision.

[TomP]

It was the "thrown clear" era... when a Sprint car crash (no rollbars on those either) would send the driver into orbit.

[cjshaker]

On those old sprint cars, you probably had a better chance of surviving if you HAD been thrown out of the car! I looked through much of that website that was posted about racers who died, and it definitely puts in perspective the safety rules that are in place today.

[Falcon67]

That's about 7.30s in the 1/8 - need a SFI 3.2A/1 jacket and current helmet per rule book.  And minimum 6 point roll bar in the car and 5 point harness with current date.