Yep. That's what they said. He was not wearing the bottom portion of his fire retardant suit.
I had to go check out firesuits of course......here is what I found. I guess there are layers you can leave out. The picture of him getting out and sitting there with the track workers showed a complete firesuit.
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The right suit is really starting out with a multi-layer suit,” Schneider says. “There is always the consumer who wants an entry-level suit. When was the last time you were in a fire and the fire said, ‘This guy is entry level, let’s go easy on him.’ A fire is a fire.”
Though if you do want a single-layer suit, manufacturers still offer them. “We have a single-layer suit, but we will tell you what you’re getting with that single-layer suit,” says Schneider.
Today many manufacturers go by the SFI rating rather than how many layers a suit consists of.
“Mine may be a two layer and the other guy’s may be a three layer because we are using different materials,” says Bob Stroud of Stroud Safety. “Bottom line is they all pass the SFI test. That is the reason we go by a standard testing, not layers.”
SFI ratings go from one to five, all the way up to 15 and 20.
“Your 15s and 20s are strictly for drag racing and Bonnevilles,” Stroud says. Most manufacturers will recommend you go with at least a five-rated suit for stock car-type racing. Sparco doesn’t even make a suit that is lower than the SFI five rating.
Creature Comforts
A few years back, Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte broke tradition and went with Sparco suits.
“We take all the information given to us by the professional drivers and actually make that our standard suit,” says Chad Liberto of Sparco. “Every year we evolve our standard suit to reflect what is happening at the top level of racing so that same suit can be purchased by the Saturday night guy.”
While other manufacturers offer a range of suit options, from one-piece to the two-piece jacket and pant combination, Sparco sticks with the one-piece version only.
“It is for safety reasons,” Liberto says. However, with the SFI regulations on making suits, having a two-piece suit may not be as dangerous as it once was thought to be. Stroud says the SFI requires a minimum of 8 inches in overlap between the jacket and pant. Many drivers, other than drag racers, like the versatility of a two-piece suit. On those balmy race nights, you can take the jacket off between heats and features.
As far as comfort, manufacturers are coming up with many options including gussets and stretchable materials at the waist so that the driver can concentrate on the task at hand and not on his suit binding at his shoulders. Simpson offers a 180- and 360-degree shoulder gusset, as well as a lower-back expandable gusset, both made of fire-retardant Nomex material.
When it comes to the fit of your firesuit, Stroud suggests that you keep it on the baggy side.
“The further away you can keep that heat, the better off you are,” Stroud says.