When I first started reading about racing at the Bonneville Salt Flats in the mid 1960s they raced on a 16 mile long course, not that long now (maybe 7 miles, probably shorter) due to the salt mining of the great Salt Lake
NHRA mandated the rear gear ratio and tire sizes as well as C.I., blower size, fuel type and specs. and probably a lot of other thing trying to slow the top fueler and funny cars down long before they went to 1000 Ft racing
I made four passes today at our local 1/8 mile track in my 1970 S/P Cuda, I red lighted by-.032 first round It is in Madras, OR. It use to be a 1/4 mile track back in the early 1960s, some drag racing is better than none