There was a time in the not too distant past that the pioneers of the Pro Modified movement were burning the midnight oil trying to become the first racer to top the elusive 200 mph barrier in the quarter-mile. Considering the performance standards of the time, a full-bodied doorslammer approaching and exceeding the double-century mark was an incredible feat and one that would go down in drag racing history. The breaking of that barrier came and went and within years, those very same competitors were sneaking up on the 200 mph mark in half the distance — one-eighth of a mile. Those were waters only previously charted by nitro and Top Alcohol cars, so the fact that fully sprung, full-bodied doorslammers did and continue to blow away the 200 mph mark in just 660-feet is truly remarkable.

Doorslammer racers continue to push the boundaries beyond what many once believed was possible, well into the 200-plus mph range in the eighth-mile, and this past weekend, veteran racer Joey Martin pushed the limit just a little further in his popular “Lowmad” Pro Extreme entry, scorching his way to a 216 mph blast during the ADRL’s Memphis Drags IV at the Memphis International Raceway.

In the second qualifying session on Friday, Martin coaxed his screw-blown Nomad to a stunning 3.626 at 216.27 mph — the fastest speed ever recorded by a door car. Martin silenced any discussions of the legitimacy of that run when he nearly did it again in the first round of eliminations, running another 3.626 at 215.55 mph to officially back up the run within the required one-percent for a national speed record. According to a number of reports, Martin, initially a skeptic himself, confirmed upon studying his computer data that both runs were indeed accurate. And with that, Martin is now the fastest man in the world in the eighth-mile with a door car — a title he’ll surely have to defend from the ever-advancing Pro Extreme contingent.