Electricity or Ethanol: What really powers the world's quickest car?

The Rimac Nevera took all the marbles this week.

The $2.2 million Croatian electric "hypercar" laid claim to an astonishing 23 production car performance records that it set in one day.

But at least one of them is up for debate.

The 1,914 horsepower Nevera accelerated from 0 to 60 mph in 1.74 seconds, which beat a previous mark of 1.79 seconds set by the Pinninfarina Battista last year.

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It's not that much of a surprise, since the Battista uses the same chassis and powertrain as the Nevera but is designed to be more luxurious.

However, something else happened in between those to events.

This March, Dodge unveiled the Challenger SRT Demon 170, which will be the last V8-powered muscle car it ever builds before launching an all-electric model next year.

The $100,361 coupe's supercharged engine is rated at 900 horsepower when running on gasoline, but filling up the tank with E85 boosts that to 1,025 horsepower, thanks to the higher octane of the ethanol blend.

Using the good stuff, Dodge said the Demon 170 was able to sprint to 60 mph in 1.66 seconds, a figure certified by the NHRA. So, that's the record, right? Well . . . .

Dodge set its mark on a drag strip that had traction compound at the starting line to help with acceleration, while the German test track used by Nevera was bare asphalt. Rimac also engaged the services of two companies to record the car's performance, neither of which was the NHRA.

Ultimately, there is no single automobile recordkeeping authority, which makes this a bit of a gray area. Even Guinness World Records doesn't currently have one listed for 0-60 mph, according to a spokesperson, so we went straight to the horses' mouths to find out what they had to say about this horsepower race.

"We can’t comment on another company’s claim, but we can confirm the Rimac Nevera achieved a 0-60 mph time of 1.74 seconds on an unprepared surface with road-legal Michelin Cup 2 R tires, verified by two third parties – Dewesoft and Racelogic," Rimac said in a statement given to Fox News Digital. "We believe our record is a significant achievement for a road car, and applaud any other car company working on pushing the limits."

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The Demon 170 also used road-legal tires, but they were Mickey Thompson drag radials, which are nearly slick and primarily designed to optimize acceleration, while the Nevera's Michelin's provide more all-around performance.

Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis raised a different point about the Nevera's record, but was also complimentary of its achievement.

"I'm not sure a car that costs $2.2M is a ‘production car’ . . . but, there is no taking away from the incredible engineering -- congratulations," Kuniskis told Fox News Digital.

What's less disputable is the Nevera's claimed quarter-mile acceleration time of 8.25 seconds, which beat the Demon 170s 8.9-second run by a wide margin.

Most Democrats support deficit reduction as part of debt ceiling fight: Poll

A new poll shows that a majority of voting Democrats want an agreement to increase the government's borrowing limit only if it includes provisions to reduce the government's annual budget deficit – a position that goes against the view of President Biden and Democrat leaders in Congress.

The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey taken May 11 to May 15 says that 58% of Democrats support the idea of pushing to reduce the budget deficit as part of the debt ceiling deal. It also says that another 7% of Democrats support no increase in the debt ceiling under any circumstances, a much tougher position than the one taken by national Democrat leadership.

Only a third of voting Democrats, 34%, support the stance taken by Biden and Democrat leaders that the debt limit should be increased "without conditions."

The two parties are facing a deadline for a debt ceiling deal of somewhere around June 1, which is when the Treasury Department estimates that the government will no longer be able to pay for current spending obligations without more borrowing. Biden and his allies in Congress have said that Congress should raise the debt ceiling immediately, while Republicans have said they can only support this increase if it is paired with spending reductions.

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A GOP bill passed in the House would cut about $150 billion in discretionary spending, and Republicans are pushing Biden to support that bill as the solution that achieves the goals of both parties.

Some Democrats have floated the idea of new tax increases to reduce the annual budget deficit, an idea that Republicans have rejected. The AP poll asked only about whether the deficit should be reduced, and did not specify whether it should be reduced through spending cuts or tax hikes, which means the support for deficit reduction by 58% of Democrat voters could reflect support for higher taxes instead of reduced spending.

As expected, Republican voters in the poll took a harder line on the question of how to raise the debt ceiling. The poll showed that 71% of Republicans want to condition a higher borrowing limit on deficit reduction, and 23% opposed raising the debt ceiling under any conditions.

When averaged together, a total of 63% of voting Americans supported deficit reduction as part of the agreement, 16% said they don't raise the borrowing limit at all, and just 19% said it should be raised without conditions.

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More than half of adults polled said they are following the debt limit fight at least somewhat closely, and most indicated they’re concerned about a potential default on the national debt.

High-level staff meetings are being held between officials at the White House and aides for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., with both parties indicating that they are pushing for a deal to meet the deadline.

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But in public, Democrats are still hammering the GOP and vulnerable lawmakers over their debt limit bill, which the left has repeatedly said would result in significant job losses and undercut vital agencies’ ability to function. Republicans are already rebranding the possible looming financial crisis as a "Biden default," pre-emptively shoving blame onto the president and his party for failing to negotiate at all on their spending cut demands.

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Sixty-six percent of respondents expressed a level of high concern about what a default would do to the U.S. economy – 71% of Democrats and 64% of Republicans.

And neither side appears thrilled with how their party is handling talks. Biden is backed by 50% of Democrats, the poll suggests, while 45% of Republican voters said they approve of how GOP congressional leaders are doing.