Over the weekend, veteran drag boat pilot Scotty Lumbert blasted to the quickest lap in history on water at the Showdown in San Angelo in San Angelo, Texas, part of the Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series Run for the Ring National Tour. Lumbert clocked an incredible 3.524 seconds at 255.36 miles per hour over the 1000′ course in the Rockstar Energy Drink/Makita Power Tools “Spirit of Texas” Top Fuel Hydroplane owned and tuned by David Kirkland and his “Fuel Monkeys” crew.
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Lumbert holds the mile per hour record in the insane Top Fuel category at a matching 255.36 miles per hour, while Daryl Ehrlich in Eddie Knox’s “Problem Child” has the elapsed time record at 3.597. Because there were only two boats in attendance in San Angelo, Lumbert and Kirkland didn’t have the opportunity needed to back the run up as a new national record. Check out the video after the break, compliments of the folks at DragBoatRacing.com [2].
The Top Fuel Hydroplanes, which make Top Fuel Motorcycles seem safe by comparison, sport nitro-burning, supercharged Hemi’s with multi-disc clutches just like their land-locked counterparts, with twin propellers underneath providing the unfathomable blasts down the liquid race course.
The Lucas Oil Drag Boat Series followed the NHRA’s lead last year and shortened the race distance for their Top Fuel, Top Alcohol, and Top Alcohol Flat categories to the shorter 1000′ distance, yet the “Spirit of Texas” team is still cranking off near all-time best speeds.
For those curious on the skewed numbers compared to Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars, the LODBRS racers launch from the holding rope, which is situated 125 feet from the starting line, providing a running start at the clocks that results in a quick elapsed time at a comparatively slow speed at the finish line.