I think all this is happening to Force Racing for a reason. John seems to be the one that is motivated to "fix things" safety wise and what he does will set the standard for other teams. He is right that the chassis hasn't changed much since 1970 - 37 years ago - and they are still running basically the same type of chassis. Same with Top Fuel and Garlits' rear-engine dragster from 1971 has the same basic design as they do today.

I recently saw a crash where a driver stuffed a Formula One car into the wall, ripped off the wheels, ripped off the nose piece and walked away from it. A lot of it had to do with the design of the chassis. It looks to be like a big carbon fiber tub, with wheels and motor attached to it, and the design saved this drivers life. Maybe we need to look to other forms of motorsports for chassis design.

Drag boats have a capsule designed to hold the driver if the boast sinks and keep him alive until rescue gets there. Maybe something like that for the nitro cars? I don't have the answers but I know that John Force won't rest until he comes up with a better design, and that will benefit drag racing. - Cliff Morgan

Having just finished reading the John Force interview/audience, what a guy! Every sport needs it's heroes, sportsmen who transcend the ordinary and become legends, Force is certainly one of those, and having just seen Ashley on TV here in England making the final, after a fire and so nearly winning it, it's obviously in the genes. - John Goodman