NHRA calls for changes

Kalitta's death raises safety issue

The death of Scott Kalitta has shaken up the NHRA and sent the organization, its owners and drivers back to the drawing board on safety issues.

Kalitta was killed in a fiery crash June 21 in Englishtown, N.J. After his Funny Car exploded, it was enveloped in flames, continued at high speed through the sand pit at the end of the quarter-mile track and slammed into a retaining barrier. The drag parachutes deployed but did not open.

Graham Light, senior vice president of racing operations for the NHRA, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday that a task force is being put together to study all aspects of safety and competition.

"For some time, we've been looking at the speeds and performance of these cars, and one initiative we have is to develop a task force of reputable crew chiefs, headed by Dan Olson, who works for us on the technical Top Fuel-Funny Car side. [We're] looking at ratcheting the performance back a notch.

"The goal is to bring speeds back slightly and also, at the same time, hopefully reduce some parts carnage, which translates into an economic impact to the teams."

On Wednesday, the NHRA announced what it called an interim step, reducing the length of Top Fuel and Funny Car races from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet. The 320-foot reduction will start next week in the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Colorado. The Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes will continue to run a quarter-mile.

COULTHARD ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT: David Coulthard will retire from Formula One after the season, ending a career in which he won 13 races but repeatedly fell short of the world championship.

The 37-year-old Scotsman, who has driven for Williams, McLaren and Red Bull since 1994, has not won since the 2003 Australian Grand Prix. His best finish this season was third at the Canadian GP on June 9.

Coulthard made his announcement at Silverstone, England, three days ahead of the British GP. He was the last driver to win the race back-to-back for McLaren in 1999 and 2000, but much of his career coincided with the dominance of Michael Schumacher, who won seven world championships for Benetton and Ferrari.

"After 15 years I'm not going to battle for a world championship," said Coulthard, whose best finish in the drivers championship was second to Schumacher in 2001 to go with five third-place finishes. "I'm unlikely to win another GP unless something remarkable happens this year. I did have a world championship-winning car. I just didn't win it."

Coulthard became a front-line driver for Williams after Ayrton Senna's death at the San Marino GP in Imola in 1994.

F1 COST-CUTTING URGED: Formula One wants to cut team budgets in half and improve fuel efficiency by 2011 to improve racing.

Max Mosley, the president of the ruling body, said changes were necessary to "allow a back-of-the-grid independent team to operate profitably," such as leading teams providing technology to others at an affordable price.

Teams are bracing for next season's move to hybrid technology through an energy recovery system that will reduce carbon dioxide emissions without affecting performance.