Our Ford F-150 Lightning Is Too Fast for the Drag Strip

I went in expecting the worst. I arrived at Irwindale Speedway about an hour northeast of the MotorTrend offices one Sunday morning for Fabulous Fords Forever, a car show run by the Ford Car Club Council that gathered about 900 vehicles at the Southern California track. In my experience, the demographic at these kinds of events tend to lean toward an old muscle-car-loving, gasoline-swigging, “electric cars are controlled by the government” kind of crowd. Not the folks I’d think would be especially receptive of a new, unmodified electric pickup. I was wrong.

Before I even entered the show, Ford fans were eyeing the 2022 F-150 Lightning MotorTrend bought and pointing their thumbs skyward. One especially excited show goer approached the truck and knocked on the window to ask us how much it cost, what kind of range it achieves, and if it was fast. He decided his mom should buy one—and that was before I had a chance to answer his last question with a demonstration. 

This was the first year the FFF show included drag racing. The 1/8th-mile drag brought out Fox Body Mustangs, a wheelie-bar-equipped Pinto, a killer pro stock GT350, a handful of modern 760-hp GT500s, and even another modern F-150. I wanted in on the action.

I reached out to Irwindale’s track president and short-track driver Tim Huddleston, who I heard might be willing to take me down the strip in a 2019 Ford Mustang pace car. He was. After Tim enthusiastically offered a ride in the pace car, I casually mentioned I arrived at the show in MT‘s new F-150 Lightning. “Want to drive the truck down the strip instead?” I like Tim. 

Within 30 seconds of getting off the phone, a track worker showed up to escort us from the parking lot to the staging area. We quickly ran through tech inspection, eyeing a supercharged 850-hp 2003 F-150 SVT Lightning while in line, and cruised by the grandstands toward the timing tower. After some questioning from a confused track coordinator assuming I was lost, Tim gave me a couple tips for first-time drag racers (go on the third light, don’t wait for green). I was told drivers running faster than an 8.5-second 1/8th-mile needed to wear a helmet.

I’d watched Fords run the track all day; now it was my turn to line up our long-term electric pickup at Irwindale’s Christmas trees.

I pulled forward into the burnout box in Sport mode. The fire safety tech gave us the OK to warm up our tires in the box, but I just shrugged. They laughed. Not only does our dual-motor all-wheel drive Lightning lack a rear-drive mode, but there’s not much use in smoking treaded rubber on all-season street tires.

The truck crept up to the staging area with supreme accuracy—careful accelerator control and a one-pedal drive mode will do that. Before I could really process what I was about to do, the Christmas tree flashed down toward the green.

I wacked the accelerator, the nose lifted, and the truck hustled down the strip. Our long-term F-150 Lightning might not have the same 850 hp as its tuned 20-years-older sibling I met earlier, but the modern Lightning’s 580 hp and 775 lb-ft of torque are more than capable of pushing its passengers against their seat backs. It was exhilarating. I only managed a 0.32-second reaction time despite Tim’s advice and finished the 1/8th mile in 8.21 seconds at 84.33 mph. Not bad for an impromptu run at only 48 percent charge.

Remember what the man told me about helmets? When I received my time slip, I was told the truck was too fast, and if I wanted to run again, I’d need safety gear. On the way back to the pre-drag area, though, I got too many waves and thumb-ups to give up that easily. Sure, our photographer in the grandstands heard one solitary “boo. ” That wouldn’t hold me back. 

I asked around and eventually found a track character well-known by the community to be the person to go to if you need head protection. He was only selling, not renting, but he did manage to convince the track worker who had scolded me earlier to allow us a couple more passes as long as I let off the gas, er, go pedal.

Next run, we improved on our reaction time but hit the brakes toward the end, fearing the wrath of the track official. The slip read 9.17 at 41.75 mph, and embarrassment set in as the announcer loudly questioned this driver’s lack of drag racing experience. I got a bit of playful mocking on the way back to the pit but mostly saw waves, cheers, and iPhone photographers.

Here’s the key point, though: These old-school Ford fans adored seeing the Blue Oval’s first fully electric pickup launch down the same strip as purpose-built drag cars and mint-condition classics. I’ll never make assumptions about a fanbase’s resistance to change again.

Here’s hoping by 2050, we’ll get to watch our one-time Truck of the Year get smoked by whatever madness Ford dreams up for the latter half of the century.

Additional photos by Brenna McDugald

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