Those Muscle Cars on the Drag Strip Are Really Electric

[ronald mcretard]

Those Muscle Cars on the Drag Strip Are Really Electric

The Wall Street Journal

By John J. Fialka
Aug. 1, 2007

PORTLAND, Ore. – On a recent Friday night at the Portland International Raceway, John Wayland scanned the dragsters, looking for an opponent for his geeky looking 1972 Datsun sedan. Finally, he challenged the owner of a souped-up 2005 Corvette, the hottest-looking car at the track, to a quarter-mile race.
When the starting light flashed, the Datsun, known as White Zombie, shot silently past the Corvette and kept widening the lead as the two cars faded into the distance. "Oh man, right off the [starting] line he had me," said the Corvette's owner, Robert Akers, shaking his head.
Electric cars are typically known for their fuel efficiency and environmental bona fides, not for their speed and muscle. But Mr. Wayland, 47 years old, is changing that, and has become something of a hero to a small group of hot rodders dedicated to humiliating gasoline-powered cars. The night White Zombie beat the Corvette, it also trounced two other "gassers," as Mr. Wayland calls them – a blue BMW and a bright orange 1964 Pontiac Tempest.
The electric-car racers, who go by nicknames like "Father Time" and "Electric Louis," hope to jump-start public interest in electric vehicles. "Getting electric cars going in the U.S. has been like shoveling sand into a tsunami," says Roderick Wilde, who sometimes races here in his electric-powered Mazda.
White Zombie and the other electric cars compete in the most popular drag-racing category: the one for cars that can be driven on regular streets. Anybody with a hot car and a safety helmet can drive up and compete in this "street-legal" category. White Zombie can go from a standing start to 109 miles an hour in 11.9 seconds, making it one of the fastest street-legal cars in the nation.
Sometimes, given White Zombie's renown as a speed demon, other drivers avoid a face-off. The night he went to the raceway, Mr. Akers, the 35-year-old owner of the Corvette, had just gotten back from a two-year stint in Iraq working for a private security contractor. He says he knew that the Datsun had an electric motor but didn't realize what that meant. The boxy looking Datsun was driven by Tim Brehm, who is a mechanic for a local forklift distributor; Mr. Wayland, the car's owner, is a mechanic-instructor at the same company.
Mr. Wayland is a former bass player in a rock-and-roll band who says he barely made it through high school. He got interested in electric gear while running a business fixing broken amplifiers and television sets. In the 1980s, he drove gasoline-powered Datsuns in illegal drag races on the streets of Portland. "I had lots of speeding tickets," he says.
In 1985, he found the white Datsun sedan in a junkyard and bought it for $585. He intended to use it to drive to work. But in the early '90s, with General Motors Corp. beginning to tout the electric car, Mr. Wayland decided to convert the Datsun to electric power. Today, after several modifications, White Zombie has two powerful motors normally used to operate forklifts and 36 12-volt storage batteries crammed into the back seat and trunk. In daily use, most electric cars in the U.S. are little more than souped up golf carts with fewer batteries and much less power.
In electrifying the Datsun, Mr. Wayland had as his goal building a car that could beat most of the big gasoline-powered muscle cars around Portland. "Getting beat by a little Japanese car back then reflected on your manhood," he says.
Unlike gasoline engines, which take a few seconds to build up turning power, or torque, for the rear wheels, electric motors deliver it instantly. The sharp jolt of power was a problem for Mr. Wayland in his first few races. "I hit it and it was on full power," he says. "You just held on." He has since installed a controller, a kind of giant dimmer switch that phases in the battery power more gradually.
At first, skeptics abounded. One day, Mr. Wayland found policemen measuring a long skid mark the Zombie had made the previous evening. (Before a drag race starts, drivers often do a "burnout," spinning their tires furiously on the asphalt to make their treads sticky so they have a better grip on the road.) The policemen had heard rumors of a fast electric car but dismissed them. "There is no electric car that could lay down a strip like that," he heard one declare.
The disbelief began to disappear in the mid- to late '90s, after Portland made drag-racing legal on a cordoned-off downtown street and later at the race track, and White Zombie prevailed over and over.
Around the country, other electric cars started beating gasoline-powered favorites, too. In 1996, a few tracks began to ban the electric cars, calling them unsafe because they went so fast and employed unfamiliar technology. In response, Mr. Wayland and others formed the National Electric Drag Racing Association, which now has about 50 members, and drew up safety rules for electric dragsters.
Those regulations satisfied the National Hot Rod Association, the world's largest promoter of drag races, which a few years later invited the electric drag racers to take part in its competitions. Now the electric cars routinely participate in drag races in California, Maryland and other states.
Still, even with tough safety rules, the cars can pose special hazards. When installing an array of batteries in a car, Mr. Wayland lays a rubber blanket on top of it, and connects one battery to the next, one at a time, to avoid short-circuits.
But in March 1998, feeling elated after installing 28 batteries in preparation for a race, he whipped off the blanket before he was finished. He leaned down to connect the last battery to the array and dropped the brass connecting rod, which bounced from battery to battery, creating a trail of sparks and flashes. A superheated cloud of gas, called a plasma, formed and flickered over the batteries as the heat generated by 336 volts melted the brass and fused the batteries together.
"I could feel the skin burning on my face," recalls Mr. Wayland, who wasn't seriously injured. A colleague threw a wet towel over the blaze. The towel was vaporized. Fire extinguishers had no effect. Finally, a fireman wearing a hazardous-materials suit disconnected the batteries, and the cloud disappeared. "The Zombie looked like a roasted marshmallow," Mr. Wayland says. The car was quickly repaired, and Mr. Wayland has since been known as "Plasma Boy."
The accident fueled Mr. Wayland's mystique, which has spread far beyond the drag-racing set. Last year, a Washington state police department – the Clark County Sheriff's Office – invited him to show off White Zombie in a fast-driving course for young officers. Mr. Wayland did a massive burnout, leaving a squad car, with lights blaring and siren screaming, far behind. "Somebody, please arrest me,' " Mr. Wayland recalls saying. "I'm having way too much fun."

[Slideways]

I'm sorry guys, that's cool and all, but I'd rather have a big-block car that runs 12s than an electric car that runs 11s.

[fatratchevy]

White Zombie can go from a standing start to 109 miles an hour in 11.9 seconds, making it one of the fastest street-legal cars in the nation.

Are you kidding me? Though 11.9's are nothing to sneeze at but it does not make this "one of the fastest street-legal cars in the nation." There are many, many Vette, Mustang, GTO, etc owners in the low 11's (even low 10's) that are street legal. . . .

The 109 trap speed is evident his electric motor lacks hp, but the et of 11.9. . . .that's some serious torque.

[Ming]

It's been burned into our skulls that speed should be accompanied by a lot of noise, so I can understand Slideway's take.

Still, if there's enough power there you'd think that even if the powertrain is quiet, the tires, etc. would generate some kind of noise.

One day, Mr. Wayland found policemen measuring a long skid mark the Zombie had made the previous evening. (Before a drag race starts, drivers often do a "burnout," spinning their tires furiously on the asphalt to make their treads sticky so they have a better grip on the road.) The policemen had heard rumors of a fast electric car but dismissed them. "There is no electric car that could lay down a strip like that," he heard one declare.

[jkennedy293]

Originally Posted by Ming

Still, if there's enough power there you'd think that even if the powertrain is quiet, the tires, etc. would generate some kind of noise.

I used to be into R/C cars when I was a kid, and the noise an electric motor puts out is significantly quieter than a similarly sized nitro motor. I guess if there is a lot of ambient noise like crowds and loud engines, the electric motors would seem to be quiet.

[61695]

Originally Posted by fatratchevy

Are you kidding me? Though 11.9's are nothing to sneeze at but it does not make this "one of the fastest street-legal cars in the nation." There are many, many Vette, Mustang, GTO, etc owners in the low 11's (even low 10's) that are street legal. . . .

The 109 trap speed is evident his electric motor lacks hp, but the et of 11.9. . . .that's some serious torque.

Be fun in the 1/8th though.

[69Firebird400]

I read this one yesterday in the WSJ. Here's a link to the video that accompanied the article:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/...ctid1130125418

Hopefully it works for non-subscribers.

[Orbit Orange]

At the end of the day it's still a '72 Datsun.

White Zombie can go from a standing start to 109 miles an hour in 11.9 seconds, making it one of the fastest street-legal cars in the nation.

Not even close. What an ignorant statement.

[ogg vorbis]

don't forget the turbo buicks running 11s and 10s with stock bottom ends they can also fill up in 2 minutes, and cruise a few hundred miles getting 20+ mpg. they also don't turn into a steaming ball of plasma. lol

the joke about electric cars is that they're great at carrying around batteries i'd like to see him junk the lead acid batteries and replace them with Li-ion or li polymer:O twice the power at a 1/3 the weight.

28x pba batteries = >1680 lb (60 lb ea)
96 li-ion batteries = <528 lb (5.5 lb ea) (from thunder sky, metricmind.com)

he could also fit a 364 lb ultra capacitor bank from maxwell, decrease e.t., and still come in underweight...which further lowers e.t.

the ev1 weighed 2900 lb, with 1100 lb of pba batteries. if the ev1 had had li-ion batteries, it would have weighed <2200 lb, and had 200 mile range. not to mention it would have been much more nimble, and darn right quick (15.0 second quarter).

[Orbit Orange]

You know I'm not against these guys, quite to the contrary. These grassroots racers are what it's all about. The problem I have is with the article, it paints a false picture that battery powered "muscle" cars are taking over the dragstrips and are the "fastest" street legal cars. They aren't!

ogg you bring up an excellent point. It looks like if these guys want more power they have to strap on MORE batteries. That gets counterproductive as todays 12V are VERY heavy. A switch to lighter lithium-ion batteries as you say would aid in weight reduction.

A big thumbs up for these battery powered guys, a big thumbs down for the the writer. Besides who really reads the WSJ for racing or automotive news anyway. It would be like reading investment diversifying in Popular Hot Rodding.

[MechEng]

Originally Posted by ogg vorbis

don't forget the turbo buicks running 11s and 10s with stock bottom ends they can also fill up in 2 minutes, and cruise a few hundred miles getting 20+ mpg. they also don't turn into a steaming ball of plasma. lol

the joke about electric cars is that they're great at carrying around batteries i'd like to see him junk the lead acid batteries and replace them with Li-ion or li polymer:O twice the power at a 1/3 the weight.

28x pba batteries = >1680 lb (60 lb ea)
96 li-ion batteries = <528 lb (5.5 lb ea) (from thunder sky, metricmind.com)

he could also fit a 364 lb ultra capacitor bank from maxwell, decrease e.t., and still come in underweight...which further lowers e.t.

the ev1 weighed 2900 lb, with 1100 lb of pba batteries. if the ev1 had had li-ion batteries, it would have weighed <2200 lb, and had 200 mile range. not to mention it would have been much more nimble, and darn right quick (15.0 second quarter).

Very true. To think he put up those numbers using Lead Acid Batteries and forklift electric motors in a 72 Datsun.

Just imagine the peformance you could get with dedicated car electric motors and lighter Lithium Ion Batteries and a lighter car.

[HEVguy]

Nice article, although, I agree 11.9 isn't the fastest street legal quarter in the nation! The author did leave a lot (of correct technical specs) to be desired... The other funny thing is that putting in a 'controller' will actually increase the max torque you have available at the start, and then allows for a flatter torque curve as you accelerate.

[thehunter]

Electric cars are not pollution free.

[OKsweetrides]

Amen to that one.
Electric cars are the most overrated vehicles in the sense of "environmentally friendly"
What a joke. Go see the production of the batteries required to run them, and then go see what steps have to be taken to properly dismantle them.
I can't speak for salvage yards, but I gotta think that they are not going to be too happy when the electric cars start to come on through with all the freaking regulation and precautions to dismantle.

Hydrogen power is where it's at... when will folks get on this bandwagon or is it that the ICE is totally evil or something?

[Ty_99]

I donno what it is about electric, but I am just not buying it, I still want a nice V8 thank you, maybe it is the sound to go with the power...