1955 Chevy Tri-Five Drag Races Dodge Challenger Hellcat, Narrowly Avoids Crash

The Tri-Five you're about to see is one of them beefed-up Chevys that can give the modern Challenger Hellcat a run for its money. But as interesting as that sounds, the quarter-mile race didn't go very well for the Chevrolet driver, who narrowly avoided crashing the car.

The hoodless Tri-Five is quite the beast and you can tell that it packs quite the punch from the aggressive burn out it does before the race. Cars like this usually hit the drag strip with blown V8s, but this Chevy flexes a turbocharged engine. The Hellcat is no mystery. It features a supercharged V8 that cranks out 717 horsepower in stock trim.

The Hellcat driver is off to a great start in this seemingly unusual pairing. While the Dodge snaps off the line as soon as the lights go green, the Chevy driver wastes a bit of time and takes off about a car-length behind. But impressively enough, the old dragster charges like crazy and makes up for the lost distance, catching up on the Hellcat toward the end of the strip.

But this is where things go sour. For some reason the Chevy's trunk lid pops open, which is bad news for aerodynamics, and just before it crosses the finish line, the driver loses control and the car goes sideways. He obviously has some sort of brake issues too, but fortunately he manages to avoid a rollover and brings the car to a halt on the other lane. A great save given the circumstances.

He even managed to score a 10.16-second ET in the process, which means that this Chevy could very well run the quarter-mile in nine-seconds in ideal conditions. Impressive to say the least.