There will be a time when drag-racing piston-powered cars will be a pastime for the insanely rich people who can afford to own, maintain, tune, and race such wonders of the fossil era. Just like horses faded out into history, the octane-fused muscle will be so obsolete that it will endure in very restricted circles, far away from the main course of society’s future power sources. But until then, we can bask in the roars of muscle cars duking it out at the speedways.
Although HEMI-powered Mopars are officially a thing of the past, given how the manufacturer has pulled the plug on the legendary V8 bloodline, enthusiasts will bring forth the legacy and carry the flag of firepower. Sure, electric vehicles are quicker and whatever.
Still, there’s nothing like a drag race with 16 cylinders revving high and trap speeds in excess of 150 mph (251 kph). And when said engines bear such names as Hellcat and Demon, it becomes quite obvious why some people will forever be loyal to mechanically-infused adrenaline overdoses.
The drag race hunters from the Wheels YouTube Channel are giving us one more reason to turn a cold shoulder on the electrification of fun and argue in favor of this attitude with a Charger vs. Challenger quarter-mile bout. That none of the contenders are stock is obvious, but that two-door Mopar deserves a bit more attention.
It’s a familiar sight for gearheads with a knack for go-fast machines, as it belongs to Herman Young, the YouTuber behind the Demonology channel. The drag racing addict has thoroughly documented the build of this Black Ghost 'Demon,' a.k.a. the Soul Snatcher 2.0, a Last Call Challenger from the Black Ghost series.
Needless to say, the car wears some minor tune-ups that pump up its performance figures to around 1,130 hp and 1,300 lb-ft (1,146 PS, 1,763 Nm). Quite a jump from the SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody with the Black Ghost appearance package and its 807 hp (818 PS).
That motor would also be the standard powerplant for the Charger Hellcat lined up next to the Challenger. However, I’ll bet the entire next-gen Charger production that the four-door muscle sedan has some horsepower sorcery. There’s no other explanation for the 9.10-second sprint along the 1,320-foot strip in Vegas, with a terminal velocity of 151.32 miles per hour (243.47 kph).
Unfortunately, the Charger red-lit (or so it seems), and I believe at some point, the driver eased out on the accelerator toward the end of the race. Either that or the late-to-start demonic Black Ghost has a nuclear reactor under that red cover of its supercharged third-gen HEMI.
The Challenger takes off late – the Charger is already a car length ahead when the Black Ghost gets going – but it catches up fast and nails an 8.64-second pass with a trap speed of 161.46 mph (259.79 kph): your move, future electric muscle cars.
After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads. Full profile
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