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By
Danny King
A drag racing legends is hoping a
rechargeable dragster will bring him a little fountain of youth. "Big Daddy" Don Garlits will race his "Swamp Rat" SR-37 at Florida's Brandenton Motorsports Park on April 30. The goal is to become the first dragster of its kind to break 200 miles per hour on a quarter-mile track.
The 82-year-old Garlits, who first broke the 200 mph mark in 1964 and has 17 drag-racing world championships to his name, will have plenty of help. For starters, his dragster, which has a lithium-polymer battery pack, will have peak power of 1,500 kilowatts, or more than 2,000 horsepower. Garlits also has a team that has been preparing to undertake the "Quest for 200 MPH on Batteries" Dragster for more than two years. Garlits started racing in 1950 and has a museum in his name in Florida. He owns the car along with chassis builder Brad Hadman and Mike Gerry.
Last fall, UK-based Drayson Racing
set a land speed record for electric vehicles by hitting a top speed of 205.139 mph over one mile. Drayson broke its own record of 204.185 mph earlier last year, and
that broke a record that'd stood since 1974. The Buckeye Bullet EV has
topped 300 mph.