Garlits' Electric Dragster (1 Viewer)

[Jimbo]

I wish he was doing it up here where he went 200mph the first time....

Don Garlits Broke 200mph

Don Garlits Broke 200mph

bangshift.com

Island Dragway

Did they ever solve their problems with the power company that wanted to charge them a small fortune each month?

Jim

 

[stitcherbob]

Island Dragway

Did they ever solve their problems with the power company that wanted to charge them a small fortune each month?

Jim

Yep

JCP&L fixes Island Dragway’s insane electric bills | The Capital Sports Report

After media attention about insane electric bills, Island Dragway owner Melissa Milano informed The Capital Sports Report that the issue has been fixed.

thecapitalsportsreport.com

 

[4onthefl4]

. By the way, I have a few hero cards autographed by Big and those are among my treasures.

I was at his museum in 1997 and bought a die cast model of Swamp Rat 32. He came out of his office to ask the receptionist something and signed the model and the box. How cool is that?
However, he can be a jerk. I learned the hard way not to go near him between rounds when he was racing.

 

[SoCal Racer]

Yeah he did a burnout at the museum.

About my other question it's not a huge deal and I wasn't trying to be nit-picky on the wording. "The first shakedown" sounds like it's the first ever pass and then there's a pic of the car after a run somewhere. I did some digging and found that he did run it in November at Bradenton. Again its not about the wording, I was surprised that it was actually on the track before and I'm curious on how it ran. This car is radically different than the original E-Dragster. Pic was found on Don's Twitter.

At first glance this photo was like, wait, what? There's no engine in that dragster On closer examination, there is no engine.....but there IS a motor.

 

[mikebcurve]

I was at his museum in 1997 and bought a die cast model of Swamp Rat 32. He came out of his office to ask the receptionist something and signed the model and the box. How cool is that?
However, he can be a jerk. I learned the hard way not to go near him between rounds when he racing.

I was starting to think I was the only one to ever have a negative experience with him. Everyone has a bad day so it's not a big deal but I hate part of it because he blew off my young son who is a big fan during an autograph signing at the hot rod reunion many years back.

 

[mole]

AM I ON CRACK........OR DOES THE WHEELBASE OF THE NEW CAR LOOK SHORTER.............

 

[n/a]

I was starting to think I was the only one to ever have a negative experience with him. Everyone has a bad day so it's not a big deal but I hate part of it because he blew off my young son who is a big fan during an autograph signing at the hot rod reunion many years back.

Michael, I had the identical experience with my son at the Hot Rod reunion years back too.

 

[4onthefl4]

I was starting to think I was the only one to ever have a negative experience with him. Everyone has a bad day so it's not a big deal but I hate part of it because he blew off my young son who is a big fan during an autograph signing at the hot rod reunion many years back.

I guess I caught in a good mood.

 

[mikebcurve]

Michael, I had the identical experience with my son at the Hot Rod reunion years back too.

It was the year they ran it at National Trails. We waited in line for a while and when we got up to him a guy acting like his handler and Garlits was his circus animal yells out something like "Autographs are done. Don is taking a break. He will be back in an hour". It may have been a half hour. I think the only people were me, my wife and son. Maybe another person or 2. Not many. I'm thought man only my son wanted an autograph. We already bought the die cast to have autographed. We came back and when my son gets up to him he never looked up just signed it and slid it down the table. My son who was 9 at the time and shy may not have spoke loud enough for him to hear. I was standing there waiting to snap a picture when they interacted but it never happened. My son turned around a little confused as to why he didn’t acknowledge him and just stood there. I had to motion him back to me. It’s all good though.

 

[mikebcurve]

I guess I caught in a good mood.

No I’m sure he’s a good guy. We all have bad days and people can take things the wrong way or blow something out of proportion.

 

[ironpony]

so thinking out loud here
A tesla 3 can weighs 4072 lbs can go 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and is speed limited to 165 mph
if you took off the limiter how fast would it go ?? or reduced the weight to 2500 lbs or less ??

• R/T ... 0.010
• 60' ... 1.853
• 330 ... 4.936
• 660 ... 7.514
• MPH ... 94.45
• 1000 ... 9.782
• 1/4th E/T ... 11.72
• no 1/4 mile MPH ??

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

The Tesla Model P100D is the quickest one of the lot right now, quarter mile at 10.6 and 127mph. It's the second quickest production car you can buy and miles ahead of anything in the same price range. It weighs close enough to 5000 pounds. You'd have to guess in a tube chassis race car it could run into the eights somewhere, even taking into consideration some heavy batteries.
I'm going to drive down to PBIR to see the attempt anyway. I am too young to have seen Don Garlits in his nitro prime but I think seeing him set a world record would be a pretty cool thing for a drag racing nerd like myself.

 

[stitcherbob]

 

[Cliff]

The torque on electric motors is unreal. I ride the Lite Rail in Phoenix quite a bit. Am amazed at how fast that train takes off and that is with 3 cars. The Sky Train at Sky Harbor airport has a lot of torque as well. A voice message tells you to hold on and it's not kidding. The train at Dallas Ft Worth airport is faster.....

 

[none]

The Tesla Model P100D is the quickest one of the lot right now, quarter mile at 10.6 and 127mph. It's the second quickest production car you can buy and miles ahead of anything in the same price range. It weighs close enough to 5000 pounds. You'd have to guess in a tube chassis race car it could run into the eights somewhere, even taking into consideration some heavy batteries.
I'm going to drive down to PBIR to see the attempt anyway. I am too young to have seen Don Garlits in his nitro prime but I think seeing him set a world record would be a pretty cool thing for a drag racing nerd like myself.

Luke,

What is the quickest? I can think of a couple. The Demon certainly and doesn't a regular HellCat run 10'S? I thought the Hot Rod Camaro and Mustang were in that neighborhood as well. Am I mistaken?

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Jeff]

Any updates yet?

 

[Nick Name]

Whatever happened to that thing? It made some very impressive runs, but the 201mph pass was in 2012 (I didn't realise it was so long ago). With the developments in tech you'd have to think they could be in the mid sixes by now.

I will ask Larry if he knows.

 

[4onthefl4]

Any updates yet?

If you're asking about updates on Mr. Bigs 200 MPH quest, that's not until next Saturday the, 20th.

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

Luke,

What is the quickest? I can think of a couple. The Demon certainly and doesn't a regular HellCat run 10'S? I thought the Hot Rod Camaro and Mustang were in that neighborhood as well. Am I mistaken?

Thanks,
Alan

My apologies, the 'quickest' measure is 0-60. Here is the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fastest_production_cars_by_acceleration
The quickest listed is the Porsche 918 Spyder.
Though reading that article more in depth, there is some interesting notes on manufacturers including rollout in 0-60 times...
Anyway, circling back around, in real world 'traffic light to traffic light' type conditions, the Tesla's four wheel drive makes it a rocket.

 

[none]

Thanks Luke, interesting info. We had a Tesla something with "Ludicrous Mode" at Pomona and matched it up against a Cobra Jet and the Mustang crushed it at every increment down the track. And I know it's not a "Production" car but the E-COPO is WAY faster than any Tesla.

Alan