In 1957 the record for the ¼ mile was 12.1 seconds at a top speed of 176.4 miles per hour. In 1964, Don Garlits became the first drag racer to hit 200 mph in the 1/4 mile with his Swamp Rat dragster. While those numbers may not seem impressive, for the day, they were unheard of. According to NHRA, the current record is held by Brittany Force in her Top Fuel Flav-R-Pac dragster. In 2022, she set the national record by achieving a speed of 338.48 mph in 3.641 seconds on a 1000 foot dragstrip. Top Fuel races were formerly ¼ mile; however, in 2008 the strip was
shortened by 320 feet for safety reasons. With upwards of 11,000 horsepower, the Top Fuel dragster is one of the fastest accelerating machines on Earth. Powered by a supercharged, fuel-injected 500-cubic-inch engine, Top Fuel dragsters can burn up to 15 gallons of nitromethane fuel during a single run.
Welcome to The Engine Block. My goal each month is to write something short and interesting about car culture in the US.
…bob