Note: I cannot take credit for the install of this switch. That was done by Krause and England, a shop in Raleigh, NC that deals with lots of race cars. I was getting close (as in a week away) to my first race, had this kill switch in my garage, and NO IDEA what to do with it. So I took the car to K&E and said "call me when you're done." The results are...very nice. I get a lot of questions about this.

The way it works is the switch is mounted to the firewall, out of sight. You might ask yourself..."Self, how the hell is a cornerworker gonna shut Shultz' car off when he finally crashes the thing?" The answer is a cable. There is a pull cable, attached to the switch, that runs through the plastic trim under the wipers and out to the side of the car. Functional, simple, and cool.

The switch was the standard alternator+battery switch that came from Racer Parts Wholesale. I believe it was made by Rebco (sp?).

Here's a shot of the switch and the bracket they fabbed up, bolted to the firewall. This is on the passenger side of the firewall about 1.5 feet to the inside of the engine compartment. The car, BTW, is a 95 Integra, if you're wondering.

Close-up of how the pull cable attaches. There is a small hole drilled in the switch, which the cable loops through and back around into a crimp. You can also see the cable housing is clamped to the firewall in the bottom left of this picture:

Here's a good overall shot of how the thing works. The cable pulls the switch to the left (counterclockwise) when pulled.

Extremely close-up shot of the cable going through the switch lever and back around:

The appearance of the switch from the outside. When you activate it, it solidly goes "click" and everything cuts off.

Another, closer shot of the pull cable that some corner worker will someday pull on.

Downsides? None that I can think of, except that you have to open the hood to turn the car back on. I've tried pushing the cable inwards to get around this, but it was a kludge - easier to just pop the hood and throw the lever.