It has been a good long while since I’ve seen anything the likes of what Chrysler has drummed up with respect to the upcoming Challenger Demon model. The hype that has been created based on the strategic leaks, press releases, a weekly teaser video series has been pretty fantastic, and it has captured the imaginations of gearheads ranging from my adult drag racer friends right on down to the eight and ten year old boys that I get to call my own. Those dudes are as up on the wheel as anyone and frankly it takes something pretty special to grab onto a kid like that these days.
The debates about what the engine will be, whether the thing will be all wheel drive, what the numbers on the license plate mean, and the rest of it have been frustrating, entertaining, and refreshing. Normally conversations about late model cars with enthusiasts are about how bad something sucks, how expensive something is, and just generally kind of downers in that respect. In speculating about the Demon, though people are losing their minds in the best way possible. Depending on who you talk to, this thing is going to run like a top fuel dragster or it is built for collectors and speculators to squirrel away in dark corners of America.
To me the happiest thing about the Demon is that it is a car built to go drag racing in. When BangShift first got a little wind under our wings years ago I wrote a column about how the manufacturers had all but abandoned the drag strip for Nurburgring times. I was probably heavy handed with my criticism but my overriding point was that people understand a quarter mile drag strip as a performance quotient. Just because the new Z/28 ran 1.4 second faster than the GT350 Mustang (I made those numbers and results up, so lighten up Francis) around the ‘Ring, what does it mean? Does that mean anything to the average enthusiast? Was the driver in the Mustang late on the brakes in one of like 70 corners and that cost it time? What’s the determining factor in that? If a Mustang GT350 runs 12.01 a the drags and the Z.28 runs 12.20s at the drags we know what that means. It means the Mustang ate up the Camaro.
Before you start heaving insults at me about cars needing to more than just go in a straight line, I AGREE WITH YOU. I not only agree with you, I wholeheartedly agree with you. The most fun cars I get to test out are the ones that will pin your organs to the side. I am simply stating that in terms of relevant performance information, few things can deliver the wanted impact like quarter mile times and in case you have not noticed, it isn’t just Dodge pursuing this idea.
If you remember back to late October, Chevrolet invited us out to Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch to drive a bunch of cars and then they allowed us and Hot Rod special access to their Chevrolet Camaro SS drag race development cars. What are these? They are Camaros with a brace of factory speed parts on them designed to maximize the car’s potential in the quarter mile. That’s the long way of saying it but in many way those are Demon fighters. We’ll see what happens after Demon appears and if the hype and more importantly to FCA, the dollar signs follow. If they do you can bet your britches that those SS drag race development cars will be a much hotly eyeballed program at Chevrolet.
So we come back to the Demon, the car we know is coming in some shape, form or fashion. We have learned that it comes with its own toolbox, we have learned that it comes with one seat, we have learned that it is 200+lbs lighter than a Hellcat. We’ve not learned how much horsepower it makes or how quickly it will sprint down the track and we’ll likely not have those numbers for some time, which is exactly the genius of this hype plan. We made some calls after the last video “Crate” came out because we identified the track in the photo of the crate as Englishtown, New Jersey. As it turns out those guys have all signed non-disclosure agreements at the track regarding this car and anything that they know about it. Funny thing is though…someone must have seen it run. We’re working on it. Why? Because we’re as emotionally invested into this deal as everyone else is at this point and we want to crack the case. Don’t you?
The rubber will meet the road with the Demon when the rubber literally meets the road. The performance numbers will dictate to the world whether or not the the lead up has given us overinflated expectations or built us into the kind of salivating dogs that’ll leap on the first two dollar steak thrown our way.
That’s the funny thing about the hype machine though, we can’t wait to find out either way.
I’m Mopar to the core, but really, what’s the target? Taking all the freakin’ seats out? What? Do a c/f hood, deck, doors, and put lightweight seats in it! I think over hyped is the order of the day! If I wanted to go fast by myself, I’d buy a Kawasaki H2, which I bet would blow the doors off this…thing.