Roger Hedlund is a legndary inspiration to the sport of electric drag racing. Roger built an electric rail dragster back in 1973 which he drag raced at Sacramento Speedway and also Fremont Raceway which are both long gone.

He drag raced "The Battery Box" for testing purposes in prepartion for a run at the Bonneville Salt Flats. There is a great picture of "The Battery Box" circa 1973 at Sacramento Raceway launcing against an altered 1957 Corvette. The Vette is wheelstanding and by the picture it looks as though "The Battery Box" has a lead on him.

When Roger took his car to Bonneville in 1974 he established a new land speed record for electric cars of 175.061 MPH which held for over two decades until EV legends Lloyd Healy and Ed Rannberg came along. In the April 27th 1973 issue of National Dragster magazine with a photo of  the car with the caption:

"NHRA Calif. State Championships--One of the most popular cars at the Sacramento race was this experimental machine that was powered by batteries! The new combination proved to be most impressive, clocking low 13's at over 100 mph."

It looks as though Roger Hedlund was the first rail dragster to ever break 100 mph in the quarter and possibly the first EV of any kind to do so.

Click the side photos for a larger view.