[oslem]

I disagree. Drag racing involves incredible honed vehicle endurance, just on a much shorter timescale. It’s an engineering problem with the goal of outputting as much power as possible within a short timespan (often only a few seconds) without detrimentally destroying the engine. As far as the drivers are concerned, the reaction time is obviously important, but they have to be extraordinarily consistent. At that, they have to drive the car at 5 g’s- not an easy task.

[barnas2]

The engines still get destroyed. It's basically a complete rebuild between runs. Most of the spark plugs burn up, clutch disks get welded together, etc. The goal is basically to just not have the engine outright detonate so they can reuse the block.

[oslem]

You are absolutely correct. Perhaps I should’ve worded “detrimentally destroyed” as “catastrophic failure.” The rebuild process between runs is fascinating to watch. I’ve never seen an engine torn apart so quickly!