Originally Posted by Six jours
I do not have any actual failure figures to refer to, but the top road sprinters in the world use 3/32" without apparent problem. If one is capable of sprints of more than 45 MPH then one may be justified in being concerned about the tensile strength of the chain. FWIW, 3/32" has largely supplanted 1/8" even on the track. Match sprinters still use 1/8" though I'm not completely sure why.
The difference is top road sprinters start from 40mph while match sprinters can start from zero. Low speed mashing means substantially more force on the chain. In all likelihood a decent 3/32" chain will hold up to either but the same cannot be said for chain rings.