A grave injustice has been corrected in competitive Dragster

Todd Rogers’ infamous world record 5.51 second run in the Atari 2600 game Dragster has been revoked after it was proven to be an impossible feat. Literally impossible without cheating thanks to analysis of the game software. Twin Galaxies’ decision to invalidate the record from 1982 marks the end of what was until recently the longest held official video game record. Polygon has a comprehensive breakdown of the years-long drama that lead to the decision. It’s a stunning reversal for the world of old-school video game competition, because Rogers held multiple high scores including, but not limited to, Barnstorming, Wabbit, and Centipede, all of which were disputed and stricken from the record due to the evidence of his deceptions.

The new official record time for Dragster is 5.57 seconds, which is held by four people and represents the minimum time allowed by the software. Time to get practicing on Dragster if you want to join the scoreboard!