Don “Big Daddy" Garlits Sets Electric Dragster Record In Swamp Rat 37

By Ganesh

Published: Monday, May 12, 2014, 18:00 [IST]

Drag racing and deafening engine sound are closely associated with each other. Nitrous oxide burning dragsters can out down as much as 8000 horsepower on the tarmac through their massive rear tyres and can accelerate to nearly 500 km/h in a matter of seconds.

It is then easy to imagine how loud these drag races can get. That's not, however, the case when nitrous burning engines are replaced by batteries and electric motors.

Electric dragsters are relatively less powerful compared to their regular Top Fuel counterparts. But they certainly are not slow. Case in point is a new electric dragster world record set by father of drag racing, Don "Big Daddy" Garlits.

The 82-year old multiple record holder recently set a new one by covering the quarter mile in record time of 7.258-second while travelling at 184.01 mph (nearly 300 km/h). Thought he did not reach his target speed of 200 mph, it was still 24.16 mph faster than the previous record.

The record run was was made after six trial runs at the Bradenton Motorsports Park in Florida. Garlits will try again to achieve the 200 mph mark.

About Swamp Rat 37

Built by Lawless Industries, this electric dragster is powered by a lithium-polymer battery array comprised of four packs. Each of the four packs contain 300 cells, producing a combined 420 volts and 3,600 amps.

This then runs six 7.5-inch series-wound DC motors, capable of generating 1,500 kW or 2,011 horsepower.

You can watch Don "Big Daddy" Garlits's record run in the video below.