On The Inside Of A Record RunWe were recently invited by our good friends at Dodge's SRT group (formerly known as PVO) to be on-hand to witness Dodge's attempt to break the Ford Lightning's Guinness Book of World Records' title as The World's Fastest Production Pickup Truck. As you may know by reading Truckin', we are big fans of big trucks with big power, so it was a no-brainer that we packed up our warmest belongings to leave the comfy 68-degree February weather of sunny Southern California on Super Bowl Sunday to hop on a jet and fly to one of the coldest parts of the country, just to see a red truck drive really fast in a circle. Be honest, you know you would too.
The record run, which recently took place at DaimlerChrysler's Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan, on Feb 2, 2004, outran the Ford SVT Lightning's top speed of 147.54 mph, (set last July) to achieve a 154.587-mph blast, an average of two passes over a flying kilometer, independently certified by the Sports Car Club of America. The 500hp Viper-powered, dino-swilling monster of a truck was expertly piloted by Brendan Gaughn, a six-time winner in the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, and he is believed to be the first person to bend a Ram SRT-10 gas pedal in pursuit of a top speed record. This won't be the last you will hear about SRT trucks and record runs.
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