LOOKING IN ON: MOTORSPORTS

Thursday, April 12, 2007 | 7:30 a.m.

What: SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals

Where: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

When: Friday through Sunday

Tickets: $11-$65; 644-4444, www.lvms.com

Info: www.nhra.com

Following Dale Earnhardt's death in 2001, NASCAR made a big push in driver safety, from mandating the use of a head and neck support device to forcing tracks to install softer walls to absorb energy during crashes.

Perhaps even more than his 76 race victories and seven championships, Earnhardt's legacy will be that as a result of his death, NASCAR drivers today are safer than they were at the start of the decade.

John Force hopes Eric Medlen's death will have the same effect on the National Hot Rod Association. In fact, Force is making that his mission.

Medlen died March 23 of a closed-head injury after crashing while testing his John Force Racing Funny Car in Gainesville, Fla.

Force said he has been guilty over the years of taking safety issues for granted but vowed to be more diligent .

"I wore a helmet just because it was free . I never read the data on it. Not anymore," Force said during an emotional teleconference this week, his first public comments since Medlen's death.

"I took so many things for granted and just kept moving on. Maybe there is where I failed as a boss. There were so many things that I didn't address myself, that I just accepted was OK because somebody told me."

In advance of this weekend's SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Force has revamped his stable of race cars, including the Funny Cars that he, daughter Ashley Force and son-in-law Robert Hight drive and the Super Comp racers that daughters Brittany and Courtney pilot in the Sportsman division.

Force and his teams are leading the charge with a number of safety improvements, including adding more padding around the roll cage to stabilize the driver's head and prevent the violent side-to-side shaking that caused Medlen's fatal head injury.

"My life has changed to where it's not just about winning the championship," said Force, who has 14 world championships and 122 national-event victories. "Safety is my No. 1 priority right now."

Force admitted that putting his 24-year-old daughter Ashley into one of the team's Funny Cars will be the most difficult part about returning to the track after taking a race off following Medlen's death.

"That's the hardest part for me right now," he said. "I always believed these cars were safe and I promised these kids they were because I've driven them for over 30 years and I've been through every type of crash you can imagine.

"(But) racers race and it's why we do it. It's the edge that you live on that makes it exciting. You're doing what nobody else does. Then you put your child in there and it's hard."

Double duty

NHRA Funny Car drivers Ron Capps, Tommy Johnson Jr., Cruz Pedregon and Gary Scelzi will square off in an eight-lap "grudge race" while driving Thunder Roadsters during Saturday night's weekly racing card at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The quartet, in town for this weekend's SummitRacing.com NHRA Nationals at The Strip, also will try to qualify for the 15-lap Thunder Roadsters main event.

Spectator gates will open at 5 p.m., qualifying will start at 5:05 and racing will begin at 7.

Sign here, please

More than a dozen NHRA drivers, including Las Vegas residents Rod Fuller (Top Fuel) and Jon Capps (Funny Car), will take part in a free autograph session from 7 to 8 tonight at the ESPN Zone inside New York-New York Hotel & Casino.

Other drivers expected to participate include Jack Beckman, Jeff Arend, Del Worsham, Melanie Troxel, Morgan Lucas, Tony Bartone, David Grubnic, Hillary Will, Jason Line, Greg Anderson, Warren Johnson and Jim Yates.

335.57

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway track record, in miles per hour, set by Top Fuel driver Doug Kalitta in 2004.

336.15

The NHRA Top Fuel speed record, set in 2005 by Tony Schumacher.

"It was awfully weird in Houston looking at the qualifying ladder and not seeing all the Force cars there because they're always a factor, no matter where they qualify."

NHRA Funny Car driver Gary Scelzi, on John Force Racing's decision to skip the Houston race two weeks ago following the death of JFR driver Eric Medlen.