Unless you are out to break records, or have money to burn, building an engine that wont last any longer than 1/4 mile does seem a bit daft, regardless of its intended useage.

if its that close to the wire, chances are it wont even last a 1/4.

Top fuel etc is different, they do have the funds to rebuild every race, and their engines are designed with that in mind.

I seen the Malta cars perform several runs over the weekend I was there. They didnt seem to have any reliability problems, at least over the few passes they made when I seen them. Although they were only low 8s passes at 170 odd mph....

Impressive stuff.