Dodge Truck Sets Speed Record
The Daily Auto Insider
Tuesday, February 3, 2004
February 2004
Dodge says that its Ram SRT-10 truck has taken a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "World's Fastest Production Pickup Truck."
To back up the claim, Dodge said in a news release that a new SRT-10 truck "only recently off the Saltillo, Mexico, assembly line and not modified in any way for additional power or enhanced aerodynamics" posted a two-lap, both-directions average speed of 154.587 mph over a "flying kilometer" on the 4.71-mile oval at the DaimlerChrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Michigan.
The record run was certified by Guinness World Records and the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). The previous record was 147.54 mph, set last July by the Ford SVT F-150 Lightning.
According to Guinness World Records rules, the record speed had to be the average of two one-kilometer runs in opposite directions along the same track, made within an hour of one another.
The timing equipment had to be certified as accurate to within 1/1000th of a second, and supplied and operated by a qualified third party. The speed of each run was timed by sensors at the start and finish of the measured kilometer, giving an average speed over the full distance.
Behind the wheel of the Ram SRT-10 in the record-setting run was Brendan Gaughan, a six-time winner in a Dodge Ram in the 2003 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS). Gaughan makes his NASCAR Nextel Cup debut later this month at the Daytona 500 in the No. 77 Kodak Dodge.
