Dodge Challenger Demon 170 Drags Mustang and Classic Muscle Cars, Gets a Nasty Surprise

It has been a while since they visited the premises as back in March and February, they were busy with coverage of the latest Street Car Takeover at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Florida, and the massive roster at TX2K's 2024 edition held at the historical Texas Motorplex venue in Ennis, Texas. As always, they selected only the best moments of action, whether it was crashes, records, sleepers, exotics and monsters, or six-second heroes.

Now, back to the 'calmer' Island Dragway, you would think that all that action is now a thing of the past. Well, guess again, as the focus of this latest video featured below is none other than a 1,025-horsepower (on E85) 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 limited series track monster. Naturally, the owner chose it as menacing as possible, so it's completely covered in black. It doesn't even have yellow protectors at the front, and the wheels are also as dark as possible.

Anyway, it suffices to say that it makes for a great contrast against its first rival – an old-school blue Chevy Nova that is clearly modified for track greatness. Alas, the difference between them is more than plain and obvious: 10.11s versus 12.86s. The second victory, one that is just as clear (10.2s versus 12.2s), is against another traditional model, but then we take a quick break from the Old versus New encounters to see the Demon 170 slay an S550 Ford Mustang GT.

However, the difference is not as preposterous as one would expect – the gray Blue Oval representative did its best to come up with an honorable performance and the final results shows less than a second between them: 10.39s versus 11.36s! Clearly, this Demon 170 was either running on normal fuel and not using all 1,025 horsepower, or the driver was still training in the art of skillful quarter-mile combat.

Last but not least, the final skirmish was the one that brought out the nasty surprise – another old-school muscle car lined up for the challenge and, despite the Demon 170's best effort for the day (10.07s) clearly showed the new kid on the block a bit of traditional aftermarket experience following a spectacular 6.93s run! Obviously, the parachute strapped to its back wasn't there just for show…

Sadly, the L-bodied Challenger and Charger production ended last year in December, and now Dodge wants everyone to focus on the eighth-generation Charger with Daytona EV powertrains and Sixpack 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six twin-turbo oomph. So, are you OK with the mighty V8 going away?