Demon 170 Drags Ferrari 812; Who Would've Known Cowboys Like Italian Food?

‘1,025 hp. Zero BS.’ This is the motto of this final incarnation of the Last Call Dodge Challengers of the HEMI-powered age. The first muscle car to go beyond the 1,000-horsepower highwater mark in stock form, the Demon 170 needs E85 fuel to put the hammer down hard. Otherwise, its peak performance wobbles between 797  hp and 707 lb-ft (808 PS, 959 Nm) or regular gasoline to 900 horsepower and 810 lb-ft (913 PS, 1,098 Nm) on E10.

But the Demon wasn’t born to eat the souls of other supercars by playing second fiddle in the low-octane orchestra. When at the dragstrip, a Dodge Challenger Demon 170 can and will use all its tricks against you. By ‘you,’ I mean a Ferrari 812 Superfast, the yesteryear’s top dog from the Prancing Horse. Courtesy of Herman Young, the drag-racing YouTuber from Demonology, we now have two roll race covers to judge the Demon 170 by.

You may recall that Hennessey Performance did the exact same thing in early February, and the Mopar got a supercharger whoopin’ of hemispherical proportions. See the second video for that sad Mopar slip of the tongue. Granted, the Dodge was running in low-power mode - don’t even say it; I also have no idea why one of the most horsepower-driven automotive tuners in the world would even consider that possibility.

This time, however, the mighty Dodge Demon is going to war with all its might (and maybe even more than what Chrysler claims about the most brutal Challenger of all time). The Ferrari is powered by a 6.5 naturally-aspirated V12 with 789 hp (800 PS) and 530 lb-ft (718 Nm). At 3,845 lbs (1,742 kilograms), it is two classes below the bulging brawn of the American V8 sacrilege, which tips the scales at 4,275 lbs (1,932 kg).

With 1,025 hp and 945 Ib-ft of torque (1,039 PS, 1,281 Nm), the most satanic Demon of the Dodge hoard isn’t the easy meal Hennessey served on a quarter-mile platter to the 812 GTS (a Superfast with a detachable roof). With 530.54 bhp/ton, the Challenger needs a binocular to look down on the Ferrari’s 452.93 bhp/ton GPA.

The Texas Motorplex shootout rules of engagement are simple: one of the drivers sets the pace, and the other gives the hit—two rounds, with each driver getting the kick. The Demon simply walks past the Ferrari as if the Prancing Horse lost its shoes midstream. Even in the second run, when the 812 gains a slight advantage, the Dodge roars down the strip and passes the Italian supercar like a scalded (hell)cat on a hot tin roof.