The death of Scott Kalitta has shaken up the NHRA and sent the organization, its owners and drivers back to the drawing board on safety issues.

Kalitta was killed in a fiery crash June 21 in Englishtown, N.J. After his Funny Car exploded, it was enveloped in flames, continued at highspeed through the sand pit at the end of the quarter-mile track and slammed into a retaining barrier. The drag parachutes deployed but did not open.

Graham Light, senior vice president of racing operations for the NHRA, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday that a task force is being put together to study all aspects of safety and competition.

''For some time, we've been looking at the speeds and performance of these cars and one initiative we have to is develop a task force of reputable crew chiefs, headed by Dan Olson, who works for us on the technical Top Fuel-Funny Car side. (We're) looking at ratcheting the performance back a notch.

''The goal is to bring speeds back slightly and also, at the same time, hopefully reduce some parts carnage, which translates into an economic impact to the teams.''

Light said Kalitta's death moved the task force initiative to top priority.

On Wednesday, the NHRA announced what it called an interim step, reducing the length of Top Fuel and Funny Car races from a quartermile to 1,000 feet. The 320- foot reduction will start next week in the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Colorado. The Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle classes will continue to run a quarter-mile.

With Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters producing about 7,000 horsepower, engines coming apart in a fireball are not a new phenomenon.