Surrey, British Columbia, Canada Top Alcohol Dragster racer Shawn Cowie recorded the quickest and fastest supercharged alcohol run in drag racing history on Sunday at the NHRA Northwest division Les Schwab Tires Challenge at the Woodburn Dragstrip in Oregon with a stunning 5.165-second, 280.54 mph blast.

Cowie, driving his Mundies Towing dragster, opened the weekend with a stout 5.207 at 278.98 mph in Friday’s first qualifying session, opposite of Joey Severance (5.222, 278.37 mph) in the quickest side-by-side blown alcohol pairing ever. Cowie and Severance provided an encore in the second session with laps of 5.215 and 5.248, respectively.

With just seven cars on the property, Cowie earned a competition bye in round one, and did he ever take advantage of it, going .909 to sixty feet, 3.426 at 226.07 mph to the eighth-mile, and 4.365 to 1,000-feet on his charge into the record books. Per our calculations, the density altitude in Woodburn (which is located at 197 feet of elevation) at the time of Cowie’s lap was in the vicinity of 1,000 feet.

Cowie’s 5.16 surpassed the long-standing mark set in November of 2012 by Jim Whiteley, when he clocked an unheard-of 5.178 at the Auto Club NHRA Finals in Pomona. Although Whiteley was quicker to every increment down the racetrack but the last one, Cowie was gaining ground every step of the way, going four mph faster to half track and three faster at the stripe.

Shawn followed up his historic pass with a 5.21-second defeat of Garrett Bateman in the semifinals, but fell behind on both ends of the racetrack in the finale to reigning national champion Severance, .034 to .092 on the tree and 5.227 to 5.260 at the stripe.

“What a great day … our hard work paid off and we set a new world record for a blown alcohol car today!” said Cowie. “What an awesome feeling! We came up a little short in the final but it was still a great weekend! Congrats to Joey Severance on the win. I’m so proud of my guys for all their hard work weekend after weekend … I couldn’t do it without them. And a huge thank you to my sponsors, Mundie’s Towing and NGK Spark Plugs! Next stop: Seattle!”

Photos courtesy of Jay Livingston