the 1st car in Nascar over 200mph, Buddy Baker's Daytona, still very original, even has the original slicks

not a vinyl top, a spackle spray. You know that the dimples on a golf ball make it more aerodynamic, right? So does the texture of the vinyl top and this spackle spray. Some racer (probably Smokey Yunick or other risky Nascar car owner) tried the dimple treatment to their car once... just once. Nascar immediately outlawed the dimple treatment

the tires are coated with silicone on the inside to allow them to hold air

Hennessey Viper GT sets a new world record for fastest car, beating the Bugatti by a hair

Stuff a Vette engine into a Lotus and make globs of power, then tweak the aerodynamics til it's clean, and get a really long runway.

the Hennessey Venom GT achieved a top speed of 270.49 mph (435.31 km/h) at the Kennedy Space Center on the Shuttle Landing Facility’s 3.2-mile runway.

The Hennessey Performance team was able to utilize the Shuttle Landing runway via the Performance Power LLC Space Act Agreement which is a collaboration with manufacturers and race teams alike to utilize the shuttle runway for the purposes of engineering validation, safety, innovative product design, and aerodynamic testing.

A representative from VBox USA, world-renowned maker of engineering data-acquisition systems, was on hand to independently verify and document the vehicle’s aerodynamic performance.

Info and photo from http://www.venomgt.com/achievements/worlds-fastest-270-49-mph-hennessey-venom-gt/

most amazing racer, I just learned of, Elena Myers

http://elenamyers.com/ 

1st woman to win a pro race at Daytona, age 18 , 1st woman to win an AMA pro race, age 16.

At age 14 qualified as the only woman in the AMA Red Bull Rookie cup

Astounding huh!

Rides a Triumph Daytona 675R

"In her first season as a pro rider, she made history by becoming the first female to win an AMA Pro Road Racing sprint race with a SuperSport West victory at Infineon Raceway in 2010. Myers achieved her second career win at Daytona International Speedway in March 2012, becoming the first woman ever to win a professional motorsports race at the famous racetrack."