Don Garlits pilots the High Tech Systems LLC electric dragster

Don Garlits pilots the High Tech Systems LLC electric dragster

In yet another installment of our Electric Cars Don't Have To Be Boring Snoremobiles series, we have "Big Daddy" Don Garlits hitting the drag strip in a 1,500-kilowatt (2,011-horsepower) electric drag racer.

From burnouts to launches, this drag car looks like a wild ride. We're by no means the wicked talent Garlits is behind the wheel on a straight strip, but we'd sure like to take a pass in that thing.

That "thing" is an electric dragster, called Swamp Rat 37, built by Lawless Industries, Ltd., and powered by a battery pack from High Tech Systems. Spotted over at Bangshift, the dragster is good for 60-foot times in the low one-second range and 3.22 seconds in the 330-foot at 95 mph--and that's with shutting off just before the mark.

Full-strip runs are coming (the dragster is still in the testing phase), so don't write this off as some kind of joke; the same team has put together an electric drag bike with a 1,000-kilowatt battery pack (called the Rocket Bike) that runs 6.94 in the quarter at 201 mph.

With the additional 500 kW of battery power and more traction, we expect the dragster to be even quicker once it's sussed out. Sadly, High Tech Systems has turned off embedding of the videos, so click the links below to check them out.

First launch

Burnout

Cold tire launch