Canadian Carl Brunet lives the best drag racing life ever — he operates Napierville Dragway and wheels one of the most incredible racecars on the planet. At the World Doorslammer Nationals this weekend, Brunet achieved a milestone years in the making by becoming the first driver to pilot a four-cylinder race car into the 5-second zone. To say Brunet does more with less is an understatement — his GM Ecotec-powered Pontiac GXP is one bad hot rod.
Brunet has been setting records and laying down impressive runs with his Pontiac for years, tirelessly working toward the magical 5-second zone. His efforts are well documented and even earned him a spot on our Biggest and Baddest Runs Of 2019 list when he laid down a blistering 6.095 at 229 mph and then backed it up with a quicker 6.078 at 229.94 mph during the Sport Compact Finals. Those two runs clearly showed Brunet’s machine had 5-second potential, so it was only a matter of time before he and his team put all the pieces together to break the barrier.
During one of his first exhibition runs at the World Doorslammer Nationals, Brunet reset his own record with a 6.047 and then came back around to just miss the mythical mark with a 6.004 at 232.11 mph. It was clear he figured something out during the offseason and came to Orlando Speed World Dragway determined to light the boards with a ‘five’. On Saturday night, with atmospheric conditions at 426-feet below sea level and all eyes on his red rocket, Brunet screamed into the history books with a 5.951-second pass at over 230 mph. The hit was a thing of beauty from start to finish, with a ridiculous .926 60-foot time followed by a 3.861 1/8-mile e.t. at 188 mph — all from 2.2-liters of displacement.