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The thing that it seems like they missed in their rush to judgement is that the overwhelming majority of serious injuries and accidents in fuel cars over the years have been the result of engine failures.
Scott's wreck and subsequent death was the results of a massive blower explosion, Shelly Anderson missed most of a season a few years ago after getting burned from a horrific blower explosion in her dragster, even going back to Shirley Muldowney suffered the worst injuries of her carreer from a blower backfire.
The engine is also, by far, the most expensive part of a fuel car. Between maintenence and replacement the costs run into the tens of thousands of dollars per weekend.
If they refine the rules to keep the engines together it makes things safer for the drivers, saves strapped team owners a few bucks, and lower costs encourages teams with borderline budgets to give it a shot in the top classes.
The big teams will still find a way to spend the money, but at least they will be spending it to actually develop the car instead of throwing unreliable power at the same old, slow evolving chassis.
-Tim
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