Home of the World's Fastest Electric Car

For Immediate Release

Date:         October 29, 1999

Contact:   Hank Ives                    Heidi Schwarz

RUMMERFIELD PILOTS ‘WHITE LIGHTNING’ TO ELECTRIC STREAMLINER WORLD RECORD AT BONNEVILLE

SANTA ANA, CA – Pat Rummerfield, a 45-year old recovering quadriplegic, drove White Lightning, the electric streamliner, to an FIA World Record of 245.524 MPH October 22nd at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats.  The speedster, owned by Ed Dempsey of Santa Ana, CA, easily surpassed the existing record of 215 MPH set by Eric Lueben in 1997.

“What a ride,” said Rummerfield, whose recovery from a life-threatening auto accident 25-years ago, has been just short of miraculous.  “The car ran flawlessly.  My thanks to Ed Dempsey and the crew for all of the hard work they performed to get the record.”

“We were confident that White Lightning and Pat Rummerfield would get the job done,” said Dempsey, owner of Dempsey’s World Record Associates.

“We are thrilled to get the FIA World Record and this performance demonstrates the tremendous potential for battery-powered vehicles.  I want to thank Graybar Electric, Moltech Power Systems, Prolong International, ADT Automotive, AC Propulsion and Split Second Components for their support.”

The streamliner was powered by 6,040 Moltech “C”-size power cells.

The speed record is another notch in the remarkable list of achievements recorded by the recovering quadriplegic, Pat Rummerfield, since the accident which left him paralyzed from the neck down.  At the time, suffering a serious compression fracture of his cervical vertebrae, doctors gave him at best three days to live. 

His spinal cord remains damaged and he is still in therapy, but amazingly by 1992 he was competing in the Iron Man Triathalon in Hawaii and training for the Sahara Marathon.  He is now piloting a 2,450-pound monster, 25-feet long, at speeds of 245.524 MPH.

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Last modified: December 29, 2003