Quarter Mile? That's so yesterday.
 

In light of Scott Kalitta's fatal accident, NHRA has temporarily shortened race distances to 1,000 feet for Top Fuel and Funny Car races.

Seems kinda weird. Shortening the races by about ~300 feet doesn't seem like it'll drastically improve safety of the sport, especially for those cars. But, I guess it is a temporary measure while they take a look at their safety regs.

http://www.nhra.com/content/news/30355.htm

That's retarded. I really doubt that will make a difference, cars blow up well before teh 1000 ft mark, so I don't think that would have made a difference in this instance. Drag racing= meh.

The difference is probably 250mph vs 300mph. And Kenetic energy = .5mass * velocity * velocity. So, 50 mph would drastically reduce the energy involved if there's a wreck.

Sure, assuming the wreck was at the finish line, but that's not usually the case, so in most cases, the shorter track won't be any safer.

No, but the overall risk will be lower, since it's now impossible to crash at 300mph since you're never going that fast.

Am too.