I just bought a car that already had the chassis cert tags (expired) for NHRA and IHRA on it. Recertified just fine. Even if the tags had been current I would have had to have it redone anyway since I had a new top put on it. I was too tall for the car. BUT if I was going to travel to buy a car, I'd look into having it checked by a chassis shop near the seller. Cheaper to pay to have it checked out and not buy it than to get home and find out it needs a ton of work.