Looking to possibly get into drag racing

[Bluedeuce2]

I'm a retired dirt track racer that's possibly looking at getting into drag racing. I'm in my early 40's so the appeal of the rail dragsters draws me in. I haven't spent much time at the local tracks, but it looks as if there are a few classes that the dragsters can run in. I'm looking for a class where you can run the car all out and not have a half track race with a delay box being incorporated. The Top Dragster class looks very competitive and has many events across the midwest.

What's a recommendation on buying a used car? i see many out there for sale. Some chassis are as old as the mid 90's or early 2000's. Do the chassis fatigue at all over time where it would not be recommended to buy an older chassis for safety and performance reasons? How's the safety features in the cockpit of these cars? I'm used to running a full containment wrap around aluminum seat in my dirt car and the dragsters all look to have a fiberglass seat with some padding.

What exactly does the cage size designation mean? i.e 24" cage. Does that mean the cage is 24" wide or is it a height dimension? I'm an average size guy that is 5'8" tall, ~170 lbs. I assume a tighter cage the better for safety purposes.

Any info provided would be appreciated.

Thanks!