Jason Blonde was the fastest of the fast Saturday afternoon at Bristol Motor Speedway as he established a new world record during the Worlds Fastest Half-Mile Speed Trials. Blonde, driving an Xtreme Sprint Series sprint car, clicked off a blistering lap of 144.871 mph in 13.245 seconds, shattering the previous track record of 138.442 mph in 13.860 seconds set by Sammy Swindell in June of 2000 at BMS during a World of Outlaws event. The 36-year-old Blonde, a veteran sprint car racer with more than 50 feature wins on both dirt and pavement, tagged the wall earlier in the afternoon, but was totally unfazed. Mike Lichty set a new half-mile Supermodified world record with a lap of 144.634 mph in 13.267 seconds. Sprint Cup driver David Ragan piloted his Ford Mustang GT 5.0 to a lap of 98.497 mph at 19.481 seconds, a world record for a passenger car. Scott Russell and his Yamaha took on the Worlds Fastest Half-Mile and set a half-mile closed course record for a Superbike with a run of 97.990 mph, which he covered in 19.582 seconds. Others participating in the Worlds Fastest Half-Mile Speed Trials were USAC Sprint Car driver Bryan Clauson and ISMA Supermodified driver Brad Noffsinger.(BMS)(3-19-2011)
