Jim Shauer's 104 mph drag car

Sunday, 01 April 2007

From SOCALMHRA:

Boys and girls he did it again, Jim Shauer has made history once again. He became the first in rc drag racing history to run 100+ miles per hour. With the offical mph of 104.09, and he did it in front of 300 plus people.On short notice we got to be apart of RCX(RC Expo) in pomona Ca. We got to setup a full length track(132 feet) just outside the main building. When it was time to run people were told to go out side and watch as Dan Chase and Jim Shauer attempt to set a world record. Dan who had run 99.89 miles per hour the week before was first up. It didn't go so well for him as he hit the half track center ramp slightly damaging the car. Next came the Rainman Jim Shauer and he rockets down the track with a 1.528 at a blistering 104.09 MPH! The first guy to run a 1.4 pass has now become the first guy to run 100+ miles per hour. And if that wasn't enough Jimmy decieds to make another run and sets the rc drag racing world on fire. He runs a asphalt ripping 1.4035 @ 98.39 mph..... 1.4035 Absolutly awsome. Jimmy you are the MAN. Jimmy is now the quickest and fastest man in RC dragracing history.

Equipment used: LockMan drag chassis, two 2-cell TP 2050's li-po's wired in series for 4S, Mamba Max 7700, and geared at 18/93.

This is what Jim had to say about the event:

Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:00 am by rainmantoo

Hi Guys.......thanks Bill, Dan, Mark, AC, Floyd, KMOT & Juan.

MHRA member Brian Jones deserves a tremendous thanks from the RC Drag family for persuading the RCX promoter to invite us to provide the exhibition. Brian is exhibiting his RC Rock Crawlers in the show and was able to approach the promoter personally to allow this to happen.

Check out the picture, visitors and exhibitors alike lined the track 3 or 4 deep all the way through the shutdown........from the starting line it looked like a couple of million, but must have been at least 400 or so!

I have participated in many national level events over the years, but have never been as nervous as I was yesterday. Imagine the reaction of all these people if I make one of my typical passes backwards up my leg!!! Had to laugh as the thought did cross my mind. Fortunately, all went well and they got a good idea of how exciting our sport really is. The promoter really hyped the crowd with the 100 mph aspect, but many people commented on how quick our cars are.

I have to admit the gas cars are definitely the crowd pleasers though. Here I am, all self impressed, and everyone wants to know....."when are the gas cars gonna run?" Luckily, Draggin Mark, Glen & Brian were on hand to accommodate them. In exchange, we all received passes & were able to enjoy a very good trade show.

We are finally moving our track to the National Orange Show Grounds in San Bernardino, and hopefully with a new, easily accessable track and a bit of free publicity, we can attract some new faces to the sport.

Thanks again guys.

Jim Schauer

This isn't the first RC drag car to go over 100mph. Chris Collins had his 18-cell Top fuel dragster clocked at 112.7mph at Northstar Dragway in Minnesota. From an article in RC Car Action (Dec 2001 by Mike Ogle):

Today, a number of other manufacturers produce motors specifically for drag-racing. Most notable are former Californian Steve Saiko and his G-Force motors. Steve, a one-time oval racer, just wanted to go faster and faster, and he found his true calling with drag racing. Working closely with "Big" Jim Greenemeyer, he put in months and months cooking up exotic-wind cobalt and neodymium motors on his specially modified dyno. Their results smashed just about every record in the IEDA books, including the all-time fastest elapsed time for a Top Fuel dragster-Chris Collins' 1.647 second-and the land speed record of 112.7mph set in a special 300-foot competition at Northstar Speedway in Minnesota.