Jason Blonde was the fastest of the fast Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway as he established a new world record during the World’s Fastest Half-Mile Speed Trials.
Blonde, driving an Xtreme Sprint Series sprint car, clicked off a blistering lap of 144.871 mph in 13.245 seconds, shattering the previous track record of 138.442 mph in 13.860 seconds set by Sammy Swindell in June of 2000 at BMS during a World of Outlaws event.
The 36-year-old Blonde, a veteran sprint car racer with more than 50 feature wins on both dirt and pavement, tagged the wall earlier in the afternoon, but was totally unfazed.
“No, I might have been a little apprehensive for a few seconds, but we came in, beat it out and got right back out there,” said Blonde, a five-time Super Sprint Championships winner. “That last time out, I held my breath for two whole laps around this place. I just flat-footed it all the way around.
“I knew it was fast, but I didn’t know how fast. It was pretty great to find out that we had set the new world record. That’s pretty amazing.”
Mike Lichty set a new half-mile Supermodified world record with a lap of 144.634 mph in 13.267 seconds.
Sprint Cup driver David Ragan piloted his Ford Mustang GT 5.0 to a lap of 98.497 mph at 19.481 seconds, a world record for a passenger car.
Scott Russell and his Yamaha took on the World’s Fastest Half-Mile and set a half-mile closed course record for a Superbike with a run of 97.990 mph, which he covered in 19.582 seconds.
Others participating in the World’s Fastest Half-Mile Speed Trials were USAC Sprint Car driver Bryan Clauson and ISMA Supermodified driver Brad Noffsinger.
Bristol Motor Speedway
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