In addition to being adrenaline junkies, racers are also part of a community, and one of the nicest things about going to an event is the people you meet. YouTube’s 1320video highlighted one such remarkable driver named Sheldon in its latest video.
The record-holding driver was at Alaska Raceway Park in order to test and tune his new baby, a 2022 Dodge Super Stock Challenger SRT. While the car, which combines a Hellcat engine with the Redeye’s drag racing options, is impressive, what makes the combination of car and driver so special is that Sheldon is blind.
That meant that apart from being goaded by his friends into doing a burnout that may or may not have melted his driveway, this was his first opportunity to really drive the brand-new car that he had waited two years to get his hands onto.
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Eager to feel the car, he got into it with a friend behind the wheel to feel what it could do. He then got behind the wheel for two passes that were featured in this video. Although his first pass was aborted due to an issue with the traction control, he posted a time of 11.5 seconds at 123.18 mph (192.8 km/h) on his second pass, faster than his sighted friend had managed.
While that’s certainly an impressive time for any street legal vehicle, Sheldon was a little disappointed by the run, saying he got out of the throttle a bit because the launch was so powerful that he actually found it disorienting.
It was also shy of his all time record of 10.8 seconds down the quarter-mile. That time, by the way, likely makes him the fastest vision impaired driver drag racer on earth. And he only plans on going faster once serious modifications can be made to his Challenger.
In addition, he hopes to someday take his car to Texas to meet Dan Parker, the fastest blind driver on earth. With him, Sheldon hopes to get his Challenger up and over 200 mph (322 km/h) on a runway. And we certainly wish him well on his journey to the double-century.