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Roger Hedlund is a legndary inspiration to the sport of electric drag racing.
Roger built an electric rail dragster back in 1973 which he drag
raced at Sacramento Speedway and also Fremont Raceway which are
both long gone.
He drag raced "The Battery Box" for testing purposes
in prepartion for a run at the Bonneville Salt Flats. There is
a great picture of "The Battery Box" circa 1973 at Sacramento
Raceway launcing against an altered 1957 Corvette. The Vette is
wheelstanding and by the picture it looks as though "The
Battery Box" has a lead on him.
When Roger took his car to Bonneville in 1974 he established
a new land speed record for electric cars of 175.061 MPH which
held for over two decades until EV legends Lloyd Healy and Ed
Rannberg came along. In the April 27th 1973 issue of National
Dragster magazine with a photo of the car with the caption:
"NHRA Calif. State Championships--One of the most
popular cars at the Sacramento race was this experimental machine
that was powered by batteries! The new combination proved to
be most impressive, clocking low 13's at over 100 mph."
It looks as though Roger Hedlund was the first rail dragster
to ever break 100 mph in the quarter and possibly the first EV
of any kind to do so.
Back to the 100 mph club
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