In March 2022, a gentleman by the name of Dan Parker clocked 211 miles per hour (make that 340 kilometers per hour) in a Corvette on the runway at Spaceport America. What is special about that?
Well, as it happens, Dan lost his vision after a serve crash while racing a Pro Mod in 2012. Even so, he successfully graduated from the Louisiana Center for the Blind. On this occasion, however, we'll be covering a different gentleman who is also blind.
Meet Sheldon Wilson, a.k.a. @moparmuscle14 on Instagram. Last year, he drag raced his buddy's Ram 1500 TRX at the Alaska Raceway Park in Butte with said buddy riding shotgun. His time? 12.728 seconds at 107.28 miles per hour (173 kilometers per hour), which is truly impressive given his lack of vision.
This year, Sheldon returned to Alaska Raceway Park with the clear objective of running 11s in his 2022 model year Super Stock. A development of the Hellcat we all know and love, this version is best described as being half Redeye and half Demon.
It's not your usual Super Stock, though, for it features a mid-muffler delete, front skinnies in combination with stock DOT-legal drag radials out back, and an LMI (Legmaker Intakes) air intake. Going forward, Sheldon intends to modify his Hellcat-powered muscle car with headers, a less restrictive exhaust, and a 2.85" pulley for the IHI-supplied blower.
His end goal is to crack into the 9s, and the end goal after that is to hit 200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour) on a runway. Sheldon's best quarter mile is a 10.9 at 128 miles per hour (206 kilometers per hour) in his old 2018 Challenger SRT Hellcat.
Can he go even quicker in the Super Stock? The answer is no, but an elapsed time of 11.517 seconds at 123.18 miles per hour (198.23 kilometers per hour) is pretty darn good. His reaction time? That would be 0.485 seconds, thank you! From the way he smiles and his conversation with Frederick White of 1320Video, it's also crystal clear that Sheldon Wilson is more than simply pleased by the 11.5-second pass.
As you're well aware, 2023 is the final year of the Challenger SRT Hellcat and its more powerful siblings. Chrysler is discontinuing the 5.7-liter HEMI V8 engine as well, and chances are the punchier 6.4-liter HEMI V8 won't survive much longer.
With the 2025 model year Ram 1500 TRX getting a twin-turbo sixer and the Charger being replaced by a three-door fastback coupe with electric oomph, Mopar will never be the same again. On the upside, remember that Direct Connection offers a Hurricane crate engine with over 1,000 ponies on deck. The range-topping powertrain of the zero-emission Charger is also believed to pack four-digit power.
If you can't imagine a muscle car without eight cylinders arranged in a V shape, fret not because Ford's pony car offers around 800 horsepower in GTD flavor. The 5.2-liter supercharged V8 of the GT3-inspired special edition is a development of the Predator in the S550-gen Shelby GT500, meaning that the S650-gen Shelby GT500 is likely to match – if not surpass – the power output of the GTD.
Editor's note:
The fun stuff begins at 9:15 for the first video (Sheldon racing his Frostbite-painted Super Stock) and 24:40 for the second video (Sheldon racing the Ram TRX).
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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