Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

I'm just getting into the racing sport and need some help...first off where is the best place to get my racing gear such as my suit and so on, any help would be great thanks guys!

The "best" place to get it is impossible to answer because so many different dealers sell the same stuff...I would say the best way to buy safety gear would be to find a place that actually inventories a wide selection of name brand stuff that is close enough to home that you can drive there and try stuff on.a place with staff who knows what type of racecar needs what type of gear and how to insure proper fit.....proper fit is very crucial to making your gear do it's job...especially the helmet. You can't trust the sizes on helmets because a medium from brand "A" will fit different than a medium from brand "B"...even helmets of the same size and same brand but different models will fit different. A few years ago my brother and I both had Simpson size 7 1/4 helmets...his was a bandit, mine was a voyager..I couldn't wear his, it felt like my nose was smashed into the front of the helmet...mine fit him very loose. A uniform thats too small won't fully cover your body and will break the zippers too easy...one thats way to big will cause your seatbelts to not snug up enough, will keep you from settling into the seat properly, will bunch up and restrict your movement, will make your arm restraints be in the wrong place, etc. If you don't have the time or money to have a suit custom made you need to try on several off the rack to find the right fit, and you can't do that through mail order or online purchasing. For your first helmet you really need to try several on until you get the right fit...after that you can usually mail order the next ones and know what size you need by comparing. Sure you may save 20-50 bucks buying those 2 items online, but the savings are meaningless if what you buy doesn't work. Gloves, underwear, shoes, socks, hoods, etc can safely be mail ordered, but please try on some suits and helmets before you pay for one.

And if you race anything with rollbars, seatbelts, and any amount of any fuel, you need top level gear. You need the same level of protection the guys in WOO, NASCAR and INDYCAR use. There is no such thing as a "beginners" firesuit. Actually you need that stuff worse than the pro racers need it, because you are more likely to crash and less likely to have a top level fully staffed safety crew to rescue you. Don't even consider buying one of those $90 "firesuits". I can't even believe the industry makes and sells those turds...they're really no better than jeans and a denim jacket. Don't buy a helmet at a motorcycle shop, no matter how cool the graphics are, because it is not made to protect you from a blunt hit like a rollbar, and it's not made to keep a piece of debris from coming through the shield.

Buy a suit that is rated SFI-5...with the 5 being the important number in the rating... also make sure your gloves and shoes are sfi 5 rated...and then put on nomex underwear tops and bottoms, nomex socks and a nomex hood.....every time you buckle in and hit the gas have all of it on, I don't care how hot it is that day.

Buy a helmet that is rated Snell SA 2010...with the "SA" being the important letters in the rating...SA ratings are for auto racing...they are built to protect against concentrated impacts like debris or rollbars, they have fire resistant linings, and the face shields are much thicker than motorcycle helmets (Snell "M" rated means motorcycle). And a helmet is designed to save your life ONE TIME then be repaired or replaced...the only way you can be sure your helmet hasn't already been compromised is to buy a new one.

And for damn sure buy a head/neck restraint...it only takes a 42 MPH sudden deceleration to cause a fatal neck injury.

Don't feel like you have to go out and buy a suit that costs 2grand and a helmet that costs a grand...If you can afford to then by all means do... but there are several suits and helmets on the market that meet the requirements I mentioned above that are far cheaper, and not much more expensive than motorcycle helmets and halloween costume suits...I doubt that they offer quite as much protection as the 4 digit custom suits do but they are a damn sight better than what I see too many guys wearing to race in. If you can't afford to spend $225-$275 on a suit, 250ish on a helmet, 100 on underwear, 100ish on gloves and shoes and 500ish on a head/neck restraint then you can't afford to race..

Loose is when you hit the wall with the rear of the
car, tight is when you hit the wall with the front of
the car. Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall and
torque is how far you move the wall.

Darnall thank you so much for all the info thats going to be a huge help, I live in north west iowa and don't know of any place that stocks racing gear, if you could help me find a place or if any body eles knows of a place please help!

I'm going to be racing a micro sprint but like darnall said I want to get all of the best kinds of gear for if something were to happen to me!

Call Randy, at Rosy's Raceland 712-472-2990 3522 Madison AVE. Rock Rapids IA. He can get you everything you need.

Isn't there a large motorsports operation in Lincoln, Ne?

 
I LEARNED ESP FROM MY MOM

"PUT YOUR SWEATER ON: DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW WHEN 
YOU'RE COLD?"

Call Nancy at Hinchmen, she will set you up.

Call Nancy at Hinchmen, she will set you up.

Thanks guys you all were a huge help, couple other things in my head...i'm prolly going to start off buying a used micro but would like to know who makes frames and such, I didn't know if people like J&J or eagle make the micro frames or not!

It's not if!   It's when and how bad