The car you see below is not the upcoming 2018 Dodge Challenger ADR (American Drag Racer), instead it is the Challenger GT concept from SEMA 2015. Why are we showing it? That answer is easy. Outwardly the car is very close to what the ADR will look like. The big rubber (at least 335s on the back), fender flares, and stance are all in the wheelhouse of what the spy photos of the new car show off. While the street driven mules we have seen photos of do not have the flares installed, they have all kinds of rubber hanging out of the fenders without ’em.

The one thing we can say with some certainty because we have an excellent source on the matter is that the car will have at LEAST 800hp. We understand that internally the car is being referred to as ADR-800. We’re not sure what else the “800” in that line could represent. So why is this car being built? There are pluses and minuses to that answer.

The pluses are that the car is being built because Hellcats have and continue to sell like no one’s business. This is clearly a moment about striking while the iron is hot and building a (we believe) shorter run type of car with the most powerful engine to ever fill the engine bay of an American car. The minuses are the fact that these guys have to do something to keep the Challenger fresh. Chrysler product development and introduction schedules are not what they once were and obviously budgeting is a concern for the company as has been widely publicized over the years.

All that being said, we’ll take 800hp production cars any way we can take them. This thing is going to be nuts in both look and performance. Obviously they heard the cries of people wanting more traction and more acceleration.