Gaughan sets production truck speed record

CHELSEA, Mich. -- It's 7 a.m. Pitch-black outside. You're in Michigan, which means its 19 degrees.

For the locals, the morning is warm. Except you can't feel your feet. The possibility of slipping on ice and falling on your butt is extremely high.

Brendan Gaughan  Driver Page

And Brendan Gaughan is giddy. Absolutely ready to go outside.

Getting to drive a stock production truck at 160 mph will do it to you. The road will be open, the show will be his.

No Michigan state troopers ready to do battle -- just a flock of birds. Before the day is over, one of those birds will be dead. Impact with a Dodge Ram at 155 mph tends to keep them from flying another day.

The day is Groundhog Day, but someone forgot to ask Brendan Gaughan if he saw his shadow when he got up in the morning.

Like he cares. He hasn't complained about the cold one bit, and he doesn't care if winter lasts six more weeks since he'll be in Daytona anyway.

	The name is misspelled, but Brendan pointed out that it didn't affect the pronunciation.

But on this day, he's at the Chelsea Proving Grounds in Michigan, where Dodge has set him up with a 500-horsepower Dodge SRT-10.

Gaughan's job is simple -- go faster than 147.54 mph, which is what a Ford F-150 Lightning ran last summer.

Dodge has countered by dropping a Dodge Viper motor into their short-bed production truck, and Gaughan flew to Michigan to drive it.

The truck has been properly broken in. It has 2,400 miles on it, but only 9.42 of those are going to matter.

The 9.42 miles is two laps around Chelsea. Obviously, at 4.71 miles around, it's huge. Most of the mileage is in the turns.

"This thing goes forever," Gaughan says.

For the record....

Dodge has gone through some great pains to get this record. Time is of the essence -- Daytona's season-opening Craftsman Truck Series race is sponsored by Dodge, and it would be great marketing to have the record truck pace the field before the event.

And that is exactly what Dodge is planning to do. But the truck has just rolled off the line, and with Gaughan's busy schedule, time is tight.

Enter Hein Le Roux. That's his real name. He flew in from London as a representative for The Guinness Book of World Records.

One wonders if Le Roux carried the framed document detailing the new record onto the plane, or whether he checked it at the gate. It would have made for a great conversation piece.

Basically, he flies in, certifies the record with a piece of paper, and flies home.

It's a pretty cool job. He's freezing his butt off in temperatures he's probably never faced before, but it's still a pretty cool job.

Hein and Gaughan seem to have some pretty good banter. The short, excitable Las Vegas kid and the tall, quiet Brit examine the truck about three hours before the record run.

Gaughan: "Awesome-looking."

Hien: "They are gorgeous, aren't they?"

Will it be certified as the record assuming it can go fast enough?

"As long as I can go out and order one from my dealer," Hein says.

One can only imagine a 500-horsepower truck parked in front of Buckingham Palace.

Checking out the track

Everyone piles into a van with Herb Helbig, the lead engineer for this record-breaking project.

	Herb (left) and Brendan take a look at the motor before the run.

The Dodge SRT-10 is Herb's baby. Herb's a tall, graying guy in his 40s with big glasses. He looks like he can drive the truck as well as design it. He hasn't yet changed into his driver's suit, but he will before long.

Herb and Brendan became good buddies within minutes. Herb knows the track -- and the truck -- better than anyone, so he has Brendan's full attention.

Brendan: "You have to be in the high groove. You can't come down."

Herb: "You can really carry a lot of speed all the way out. The truck will tell you. You can feel it. On the back side, there is no real reason to be in the outside lane. I let it run right out and straighten it out. You hit this thing. If the truck is comfortable, use this as your point of reference."

The track is still pretty icy, but crews are out trying to get the track dry. Herb tells Brendan that the south side of the track takes longer to dry out.

Gaughan: "I think Herb is right about a lot of stuff. This (cold) air is going to be great for making horsepower. The south turn needs work with the jet dryer."

	Note how clean the truck looks. After a couple of laps, the wheels weren't so shiny.

Herb: "The south turn is an issue in the wintertime. The sun is at a low angle in the wintertime and the banking blocks it."

Gaughan: "I don't see how this truck won't do what we ask. You drive off, and you're in the forest."

Huge trees surround the massive layout, and deer are common. Brendan asks what to do if a deer runs onto the track.

Herb: "We have spotters. The deer won't make it."

Brendan Background

It's clear that Dodge loves Brendan Gaughan. And he hasn't even made a Nextel Cup start yet.

Gaughan, 28, has been driving Dodges for all but two years of his professional career. He led the Craftsman Truck Series with six victories in 2003. And yes, he's still extremely disappointed that he didn't win the title last year.

Even so, he's fired up about joining Penske-Jasper's No. 77 Dodge. They were able to get a high-profile sponsor -- Kodak -- and Brendan is still adjusting to the sponsor-laden life of a Nextel Cup driver.

	Gaughan always wears the t-shirt of his alma mater (Georgetown University) under his uniform. Credit: AP

But he's having fun already. Most of his clothing is covered in the Kodak logo, and he already needs a new hat. The one he got a few days ago is already showing some age.

Gaughan is expected to challenge Brian Vickers, Kasey Kahne, Johnny Sauter, Scott Wimmer and Scott Riggs in what should be a season-long battle for Rookie of the Year.

It won't be easy. But Gaughan is already working well with teammate Rusty Wallace. It's clear that Gaughan's already enjoying hanging around Wallace. It is sure to make his rookie experience easier.

Gaughan brought Craftsman Truck Series crew chief Shane Wilson with him. Gaughan will also have Bill Wilburn on his outfit -- Wilburn worked with Wallace in 2003.

All the pieces are there. And Gaughan knows it.

"I didn't try to fight to get Shane there," Gaughan said. "I've got Billy Wilburn there and it's a really big trick to this deal. He has been there and done that.

"Shane understands me. I speak a different language. Wilburn has looked at me when I get out of a racecar and scratched his head. Shane understands it.

"I've got (19-time winner) Buddy Baker to help me, and Billy to help (Shane). Our over the wall guys are awesome."

Gaughan is not worried about the strain of a 36-race schedule. He once spent 24 straight hours in a car during a race in Mexico, so four hours every Sunday isn't going to be a problem.

"In a lot of lesser series, you race even more often than Nextel Cup Series," Gaughan says. "Look at Kenny Schrader."

Getting warmed up

Gaughan climbs into the Dodge Ram for some low speed (80 mph) runs to get acclimated.

	Herb and Brendan get ready for test runs.

He's starting to get really pumped up. Herb's words are ringing in his mind. Gaughan really likes Herb -- both of them are racers.

"We are, in his words, going to 'annihilate the record,'" Gaughan said. "The nice thing is, this thing feels great. We're at 90 (mph) and bouncing along. Just chilling.

"This is a lot like Daytona or Talladega. You want to come out and be easy on the wheel."

Gaughan looks out of the truck and sees a car watching on a nearby hill.

"There's the (deer) spotter! That is the guy!"

Gaughan is getting more excited by the minute. He's already loaded some CDs to blare while he's got the speedometer buried.

"The speedometer is reading 160, and Herb has told me he wants to see it," Gaughan said. "I don't know if it's the magic number, we should be easy to hit 153, 155."

Again, Gaughan is 28 years old. That means he knows a lot about sound systems, and the Dodge carries a good one.

"This is a six (disc changer). I went to load one in, and it said 'select disc,' I was like, what do you mean, select?!"

For the record, Gaughan will be breaking the speed mark while listening to Jet and Audioslave.

"I was listening to Megadeath in a Mickey Thompson race once," Gaughan says.

Setting the record

The mercury has just passed 30. According to Herb and Brendan, the weather is great for making speed.

It's high noon. Literally.

Gaughan grabs his helmet. It's pretty sharp -- adorned with the logo of his dad's Las Vegas casino, The Orleans, but the helmet is mostly decorated with signatures.

The autographs are from soldiers in Iraq, who got a visit from Gaughan this winter.

He's got the helmet on. He gets in the truck to warm up, but Gaughan's feeling so good that he yells at Herb to record the lap.

Gaughan breaks the record on his first try. And he gets faster on his second lap. Every time he goes by, it sounds like a jet fighter.

There's not much talk on the radio as Brendan turns around and makes a lap in the opposite direction. Brendan has to make adjustments -- this time, the left side of the truck is up against the wall -- and the clockwise lap is a little slower.

But it doesn't matter. In a few minutes, the record is history. Now, it's a race to see how high the record can go.

	Unlikely bird

And Brendan's voice comes cracking over the radio:

Gaughan: What did we hit that time?

Herb: 155.1.

Gaughan: What?

Herb: You ran a 155. We're good with that.

Gaughan: You want me to turn around?

Herb: Yes, come back to us.

Gaughan: On my way, sir!

Herb: You're not going to like that one. Go another lap.

Gaughan: I don't like this front, not with 3-4 mph faster on the back. One more shot at it, I need to get down that hill a little better.

Gaughan mashes the gas a little more.

Gaughan: Any quicker?

Herb: Yeah.

Gaughan: One more lap.

Dodge has paid to have an airplane fly over the grounds carrying a banner touting the new record. Brendan sees it right away.

	The banner

Gaughan: I love the airplane, baby! That's all for you, Herb! That is a cool looking banner flying there.

Herb: Turn it around where I am.

Gaughan: We've got the world's fastest pickup truck! And look! There's the guy from Guinness!

Post-record

Brendan parks the truck at the start-finish line. It's time to hold court. A pretty good amount of media has come out to see the show.

Gaughan mashed the gas pedal so hard that it is damaged. He also killed a bird. Clearly, the truck can use a good wash.

	He bent the gas pedal!

"Herb was yelling at me to put my foot through the floorboard, so I put my foot through the floorboard," Gaughan said.

Gaughan: I did bend the gas pedal though! Sorry!

Herb: That is ok! We'll take it off and send it to you.

Brendan: I'll take that! We'll hang it in the shop!

Le Roux is there, and he seals the record and hands it to the guys. It's all over -- the Dodge officially ran two laps -- in both directions -- with an average speed of 154.587 mph.

"We did that way too easy," Gaughan said. "There's probably some left in it. 155 is a hell of a time for a truck just out of the warehouse."

Someone jokes that a Guinness beer would be a proper way to celebrate the record.

"A Guinness may not be a bad thing," Gaughan said. "Where is our guy?"