Racing Seats - Speed Seats

Since we bought the car used, it obviously had a seat in it. The good news here was that the previous driver was about the same build as Losito, so we made do for the first few races. But the wheels were put in motion right away to get a custom-built seat for our driver. This was an exercise that was actually given a slightly higher priority than engine output, and the starting point was the seat itself. Having had past associations through UNC Charlotte with Brian Butler of Butler Built Motorsports Equipment, I called him first. Although Butler is a very busy man, I got a chance to spend several hours tapping into his considerable knowledge and experience in the field of seats and safety.

You can get a Butler custom seat by going online and following the procedure given for measuring drivers. Since we were literally just down the road from Butler's shop, it made sense for us to go in and get Losito measured in-house. An added bonus to visiting the shop is that Butler has a number of partial chassis with a variety of seats and steering wheel positions. This provides an opportunity to try a series of seating positions relative to the steering wheel. This in itself is a major deal, as there is a wide variation in driver preferences, from arms almost straight to arms very much bent at the elbow.

Mechanically, having the arms in a semi-straight position similar to that used in a big-rig truck gives the most steering wheel torque and allows for the most rapid wheel movement, but not everyone likes it that way. Butler was adamant that the driver who takes time to establish the best position relative to the location of the seat, wheel, and pedals will be faster.

"The whole premise of a race car is that the driver is the bionic computer that controls it," he said. "Having a loose-fitting driver in the wrong position is about the same as having a loose steering joint and the wrong geometry on at least one front wheel. As far as safety is concerned, the sled crash testing we have been involved in shows that a stout seat and tightly retained driver produces an enormous increase in survivability."

Since my own experiences backed that up, I was not about to argue.

With a steering wheel position established, the measuring sequence got under way. Typically, there are seven key measurements required, and it takes approximately 30 minutes to record them. This is done with the driver sitting on a table.

Because we ordered our seat at the height of the early-season rush, we had to wait a month for it to be built.

Having a good seat is the first part of the equation. The next part is installing it correctly. It is paramount that the seat be bolted rigidly to attachment points that are the least likely to fail in the event of a crash. Also, when installing a new seat, it may be necessary to reconsider the position of the seatbelt anchor points. These should be directly aligned to the force/loads they are intended to take and should have swiveling anchor brackets at the attachment points on the body or 'cage.

While we are on the subject of seatbelts, it's worth mentioning that Butler and the other two seat experts I spoke to, Randy LaJoie and Gary Dehart, were of the opinion that seats should be of sufficient strength to allow the seatbelts to be mounted directly on the seat. This would ensure proper location. Maybe we will see such seats in the not-too-distant future.

As mentioned earlier, Losito's seating in the Late Model was not too far off when we bought the car, but installing the custom Butler seat was, according to the driver, much better.

The next thing we had to determine was whether or not the better seat, steering wheel, and pedal locations would result in faster laps. I made a point of asking Losito to look for a conclusion here. Basically, he felt the seat was worth a drop in lap times of its own account, but what he thought to be the biggest advantage was that he could better feel what the car was doing. This allowed him to give better feedback to the crew chief and the rest of us involved in making him faster. The result was some suspension changes that lopped off something approaching a tenth of a second around the 0.363-mile Hickory (North Carolina) Motor Speedway.

Not forgetting the fact that a race car is a conglomerate of parts that have to work in an orchestrated fashion, we have had steadily improving results since the seat, steering wheel, and pedals have been put under the magnifying glass. In seven races we have gone from a 20th qualifying position to the front row. With two closely fought Second Places to Losito's credit, it should only be a matter of time before the Butler-equipped No. 64 pulls off a win.