Watch an electric drag-racing golf cart turn a wheelie into a backflip

Electric vehicles' greatest inroads in racing have come at the drag strip, where the instant torque of an electric motor has created a whole new breed of builders seeking that extra tenth — and for one Arkansas racer, an airborne moment in a high-output golf cart equal to anything a gas-powered machine can create.

Terry Hatfield has been wrenching on his "Shock Therapy" dragster for about three years, based off an EZGo cart with a stretched wheelbase, running in the class for modified golf carts that allows them track time without rolling against machines in the next lane weighing three times as much. In 1/8th-mile runs, Hatfield had managed to get Shock Therapy down the track last month in 6.595 seconds at 97.57 — serious speed for something that began its life puttering over grass.

Last weekend, Hatfield brought the Shock Therapy to the track to test some new changes, and even pumped extra air in his slicks to prevent it from popping a wheelie at the line. Clearly it wasn't enough, but fortunately Hatfield wasn't hurt, and even captured the moment on his own GoPro. And Hatfield should take some pride in building a cart so wicked it needs wheelie bars.