Let’s be honest: most of us consider ourselves festive overachievers if we manage to get our Christmas tree home without it flying off the roof rack at 35 mph. The folks at Hennessey Performance? They just took that concept, cranked it up to absolutely bonkers levels, but I’m absolutely here for it.
Because nothing says “holiday spirit” quite like strapping a fully decorated tree to a 1,064-horsepower beast and hitting 196 mph! Well, with only two days until Christmas, maybe you’ll need to rent a ZR1 and get on it!
Trimming the Tree… at Triple-Digit Speeds
This past weekend in Beeville, Texas, Hennessey strapped a 5½-foot Christmas tree — complete with over 200 twinkling lights and festive ribbon — to the roof of a 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 and sent it screaming down a runway at 196 mph. Yes, you read that correctly. Nearly 200 miles per hour. With a decorated Christmas tree.
The stunt marks the seventh annual Hennessey Christmas Tree Run, a tradition that started back in 2017 and has become the automotive world’s most delightfully ridiculous holiday tradition. This year’s run shattered their previous record of 192 mph, set in 2022 with a Venom 1000 Ford Mustang.
The Perfect Vehicle for Yuletide Velocity
The star of this festive speed show is Chevrolet’s latest flagship, the 2026 Corvette ZR1 — a machine that’s basically America’s answer to the question “what if we made a supercar but kept it somewhat affordable?” Under the hood (well, behind the driver) sits a twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter flat-plane crank V8 pumping out 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough power to make Santa’s sleigh feel seriously inadequate.
Professional driver Spencer Geswein piloted the tree-topped Corvette to its record-breaking speed. Geswein, who previously took Hennessey’s Venom F5 hypercar past 270 mph, handled the decorated ZR1 with the kind of calm expertise that comes from routinely doing things most people would consider certifiably insane.
Here’s a fun footnote: after completing the tree run, the Hennessey team removed the festive cargo and took the fully optioned ZR1 ZTK back out for another pass. Without the aerodynamic nightmare of a Christmas tree creating drag, they hit 206 mph before running out of runway. Turns out, holiday decorations aren’t exactly wind-tunnel optimized.
A Tradition Unlike Any Other
According to Alex Roys, Hennessey’s President, the Christmas Tree Run has evolved from “a crazy little holiday stunt” into one of the company’s most beloved traditions. “It’s the kind of event that reminds you why this whole thing started… because cars should be loud, fun, and just a little bit unhinged,” he explained in a press release. Yes, this is very official.
The progression has been steadily upward since that first 174 mph run in a Dodge Challenger Hellcat Widebody. Over the years, they’ve used everything from a Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk to an Audi RS6 Avant, each time pushing speeds higher. The 2022 Porsche 911 Turbo S actually clocked in slower at 175 mph — proof that even with incredible engineering, aerodynamics matter when you’re hauling evergreen.
Here is the full history of the fastest and baddest tree haulers:
- 2017: Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody at 174 mph
- 2019: Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk (HPE1000) at 181 mph
- 2020: Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang at 182 mph
- 2021: Audi RS6 Avant (Hennessey tuned 800 hp) at 183 mph
- 2022: Porsche 911 Turbo S at 175 mph
- 2022: Venom 1000 Mustang at 192 mph
- 2025: Chevrolet C8 Corvette ZR1 at 196 mph
Why This Matters (Sort Of)
Okay, not really, but it’s awesome.
Look, nobody needs to know how fast a Christmas tree can travel on a car roof. This isn’t solving world hunger or curing diseases. But in a world that takes itself way too seriously, there’s something genuinely delightful about a team of performance enthusiasts dedicating time and resources to answering questions nobody asked.
It’s engineering meets holiday cheer meets “why not?” And honestly? I want more of it!
The Hennessey Christmas Tree Run serves as a reminder that automotive passion doesn’t always need a practical purpose. Sometimes the best innovations come from people asking “what if?” and then actually following through — even if that means securing holiday decorations to a vehicle that costs more than most people’s houses.
The Bottom Line
So this holiday season, when you’re carefully strapping your own tree to your sensible crossover and nervously eyeing it in the rearview mirror during the drive home, take comfort: it could be worse. You could be trying to keep 200+ lights functioning at 196 mph while wondering if your mounting system can handle forces that would make aerospace engineers nervous.
Hennessey’s latest Christmas Tree Run proves once again that with enough horsepower, professional expertise, and a healthy disregard for conventional wisdom, anything is possible. Even delivering Christmas at speeds that would make Rudolph file a workers’ comp claim.
Happy holidays, and maybe stick to the speed limit with your own tree. Leave the record-breaking to the professionals. Instead, check out this fun Christmas movie personality quiz or last-minute gift guide for car enthusiasts. Just stay outta trouble, alright?
The 2026 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 is available through Hennessey Performance and authorized dealers, though we suspect the Christmas tree mounting hardware is sold separately.