In a race there are two parts to the equation of winning: the car, and the driver. Most drivers look to the car to do all of the work, but as most good racers know, owning a badass car doesn’t mean jack squat if you can’t drive it. Any chump in a fast car can be embarrassed by a good racer who knows their machine inside and out. At a drag strip there is a third element that comes into play: the track officials. Piss them off and your night of racing is over. You will be unceremoniously removed from the property and told to get lost.
We’ve gone on and on about the Hellcat Mopars here, so we’ll just say that in capable hands, these cars are something to worry about. But not everybody who has bought one qualifies as capable, and in the case of these two Challenger owners, we will simply say that we’re glad that they are on the track testing these cars out. Both of these cars are automatics, and from what we’ve heard from other owners, the best launch is to lock up the converter somewhere around 1,000-1,200 RPM and to be careful with the throttle out of the hole. Hopefully someone will inform these two guys next time, before a starter loses his cool and boots these guys off the property.
Clearly they haven’t seen the “7-Commandments of Hellcat Ownership” guy’s video. If he’s seen this, he’s probably just inhaled his morning bottle of HGH.
Hellcats 2 brain cells 0!!
Just goes to show that money and horsepower do not make race car drivers. Doesn’t matter the brand of car you drive.
Guy in the right lane yells I WON and does a fly by on the return road.
Just because you have the money to own a Hellcat doesn’t mean you have the talent to drive it.
700hp and they run 11’s lmfao, pos domestic cars, get a japanese tuner!
You think that might have something to do with being setup for the best all around ride instead of being optimized for drag racing?
Nah, I’m just being silly. That has nothing to do with it.
Steve, Excellent April Fools troll.
O wait, you’re serious? Damn, that’s the best laugh I have had so far today.
Clueless…
On Friday Test-N-Tune/Street night you get your bracket car to the lanes early and git your hits in before the streeters show up. Nothing like a diesel truck with knobby tires bouncing off the starting line to take .02~.04 off your 60′ And maybe help the azz end kick out too. Time to put it up and go watch the kids beat on their rides.
For what its worth I tried sticky tires (used 17″ Hoosier slicks) on my Ram once and broke my front u-joint/pinion at launch. There is a reason most of those guys run street tires, the beefier parts are way expensive. 2wd is also hard to launch clean on a diesel, because all of the weight is in the front.
But let me add – these nut cases bring all their friends and they have a good time. We racers need to remember to just put up with it because it’s nearly free money for the track. Mucho patience required by the track crew and the racers. Oh and they love to see their pictures on the track Facebook page. Not sure what us photogs are going to catch from inhaling “rolled coal”. 🙁
Put down some gold dust and VHT, drag the track and we’ll be OK for Saturday.
Looks like a non-event to me other than the fact $150K of cars is involved. Trying to build boost on 700 HP with just a footbrake is pretty tricky.
Need to have a drivers meeting for newbie’s
Seems like much ado about nothing. I see nothing more than two inexperienced drivers learning their new cars. IMO props to them for runnning them where they should be run and not out on the street somewhere AND fro taking their time to learn their cars in a safe environment….I like all experienced racers bitching….But I am sure all seasoned racers were born with the ability to launch their car without drama, to run down the track with superb skill….please. Anyone else thats never been down a track…you need to STFU up too. Anyone ever try to lauch a car making any kind of power on street tires? No, then STFU….
Good points.
Must have been the first time staging? Dummies!!!
So what’s so horrible? They are rookies? Everyone needs to learn, these guys are smart enough to do it on the track, not the street. Straight passes by both, expected a lot worse.
11-12 sec cars and neither were wearing helmets.
Good that they are at the track , but with street tires doing that shit at the starting line ruins the track prep .
They both have a nasty case of wheel hop.
Even on my first visit to the track, I had enough sense to watch how to stage before even pulling up to the line. These guys look like a couple of rich 15 year olds prematurely ejaculating due to over excitement.
The Car has a built in two Step but it will turn the tires over once or twice if when you engage it…… the dumb ass tree operator knows nothing about these cars……
Why does the tire turn when activating the two step, or why would it need to turn?
Sucky drivers + sucky tires = fun for the whole family 🙂