Dillard Rockets To 5.39, Quickest-Ever U.S. Doorslammer Run

Esteemed engine builder and veteran doorslammer drag racer Eric Dillard made history over the weekend, driving Jose Gonzalez’s Q80 Racing Chevrolet Camaro to the second quickest elapsed time ever by a full-bodied automobile, and the quickest all-time on American soil, at the U.S. Street Nationals at Bradenton, Florida.

Armed with confidence after recording a 5.49-second lap with the same car at the World Cup Finals last November (with Gonzalez at the controls), and no doubt in sync with the engine combination that his Pro Line Racing shop built, flogged, and refined, Dillard and company rolled into Bradenton for a week-long test session intent on going 5.30’s. After an opening 5.49, the bright-orange rocketship clocked a 5.412 and a 5.404, which was just .001-seconds short of Gonzalez’s own U.S. doorslammer record. On the final attempt of the week, Dillard sailed to a 5.393 at 267.43 mph. Only Khalid Mohamed and the EKanoo Racing team have ever been quicker, at 5.379 seconds and 278.79 mph, set at the Bahrain International Circuit in February of 2018.

Like the run at World Cup Finals, Dillard’s 5.39 is the quickest 1/4-mile run in history by a ProCharger-boosted car of any kind. The car is powered by a Pro Line Hemi with a crank-driven ProCharger F-4X-144, and massed by a cacophony of FuelTech electronics.