Golf carts are ever present at the drags these days. They are used to ferry crew members around, tow race cars, run to grab race fuel, haul tires, and whatever else needs to be done during racing activities. At night they are used as party shuttles, wheelie machines, and even in some races racers. Look, Chad and I have seen some of the most wild (and stupid) activity in our lives after the sun has gone down and the golf cart races start in the pits. Lots of these things have been wicked up and are faster than even the owners will admit. At an unnamed drag race a couple of years ago Chad and I literally hauled ass because we were pretty sure someone was going to get killed during a series of impromptu cart races in the staging lanes run directly AT innocent people driving down said staging lanes. Yikes. This video isn’t anything like that though, this video proves that Jim Halsey and his crew at Cecil County Dragway are on their stuff because rather than have these races in the pits where a kid or drunken person could get run down, they moved them onto the track and frankly it is more impressive anyway!
These carts are nuts. Some are clearly powered by motorcycle drivetrains because the drivers are MANUALLY SHIFTING THEM it sounds like others may have a snowmobile engine/centrifugal clutch setup and one guy clearly has a stock cart that nearly pulls off the upset of the “meet”. The carts are racing on a pro-tree, heads-up, to 330ft down the track and in that space they get some wild speeds going. There are a couple of big wheelies (and lots of the carts have wheelie bars), and some great gear jamming. We would not get on one of the motorcycle style cars unless we were driving because if we’re going to meet our maker on a golf cart, it would be because WE screwed something up, not someone else taking us out.
Is it safe? Hey at least they have helmets on, there are walls, and no innocent bystanders stand the risk of being squashed by a wayward hot rod golf cart. That’s a win in itself. Watch this!
