I've thought the same thing that Tony P. said about increasing driver participation for years in all types of racing. For funny cars, how about bringing the nose of the body closer to the spindle centerline about 3 feet? Then take the tailgate off the decklid or at least cut it in half in either width or height and make the green house equal to the sides of the car. I've heard all kinds of theories about how the cars would be undriveable, etc. That's where the driver actually has to earn their money. Simply flooring it won't work anymore, having the driver use the throttle, steering and maybe the brake would be mandatory on every run. I've seen a video of a top fuel car run in the rain, so I suspect running with less downforce may not be the end of the world. Putting so much downforce on the car that the chassis bends and breaks in the middle (like we've all seen) is definitely not working, so lets at least give it a try.
