It’s a story of intrigue, history, and forensic research. It’s the story of drag racing record being stripped from its longtime and legendary holder. It’s a story that may leave you scratching your head but boy is it fun to read about. Perhaps you have heard of the Atari 2600 game Dragster which was out in the early 1980s. Maybe you even used to play it back in the day. Well, so didn’t a guy named Todd Rogers who was one of the most celebrated video game gods of the 1980s and Rogers claimed to have set an elapsed time that was basically eons quicker than anyone else had ever gone. It was such a mark that it actually made its way into the Guinness Book of World Records. But things are not always as they seem, are they?
Because we live in a video game obsessed culture, there are still guys who play the oldies and after decades of trying to match Rogers performance, no one could. That lead to some of the more interesting geek detective work we have ever read about and it ultimately led to Rogers losing the decades long record.
NHRA.com’s Phil Burgess does a wonderful job of telling the story, filling in the context and it is one hell of a read. If you have not heard of this story or even if you have, you’ve got to eat Phil’s piece. It is awesome!
Click the image below to read Phil Burgess’s great story on Dragster-gate
Neat piece.
As for who ran 200 first?
It was the greek.
Kallitta and garlits both know it too.
Who cares about a \”record\” in a video game? Real automobile racing requires real vehicles really racing on a real race course/track/street in the real world.
Those that play video games, and don’t give a fuck about automobile racing?
And probably those who think it’s fun to read/listen to stuff they don’t regularly come in contact with.
I liked Drag Racing best when a car would run a certain kind of time if everything was PERFECT and everyone else was chasing them. At first it was 7.30s for F/Cs. 1-4 guys would be in that bracket and the rest of the field would be scattered all the way into the 8s. Much better than watching the BARRIERS fall then nobody really competing at that level for weeks or months. The appeal of the fast door cars like Pro Mod now is when you can actually SEE a car is on a GOOD ONE because everything isn’t totally regulated out and scienced out. As the fields get tighter it sucks a little in my eyes.