Tesla EV Drags 850+ and 1,000+ HP Dodge Hellcats, Absolute Destruction Swiftly Ensues

Ever since the first Tesla vehicles came out on the market, especially the flagship Model S, the notion that EVs are both slow to charge and to race has been intensely disputed. Sure, the bulky EVs, with their massive assortment of elephant-sized battery packs, aren't exactly great on the track in time attack mode.

But put them in the left or right lane of a quarter-mile dragstrip, and things start to change, especially if the driver runs a Performance or Plaid version. However, that's not exactly universal, to be honest. That's because the ICE-powered world has often tried to push back and demonstrate they can still beat them to the finish line.

As such, we have seen numerous times how sports cars, SUVs, and even trucks from various automakers have used everything they were given under the hood to try and beat Teslas to the punch. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't – even when dealing with something that's not as expensive or fast as a Tesla Model S or X Plaid.

For example, Rich, from the Rich on Track channel on YouTube, loves the discussion about Tesla and electric vehicles. The socialite owns a 2021 Tesla Model 3 Performance and likes to keep himself up to date with everything around the debate of EVs and their ICE-powered foes. Even better, he regularly goes to the tracks, too.

For his latest video (embedded below), Rich and his Model 3 Performance went to the Famoso Bakersfield Raceway for a bit of racing – even though he didn't even know who he was facing in McFarland, California. In between his usual expose, he also gives us a couple of feisty races against what he believes to be a couple of Dodge Challenger Hellcats.

Notoriously hard to tame even on the prepped surface of a dragstrip, Rich is not worried too much about getting beaten by a couple of RWD muscle cars with over 700 horsepower under their belt. However, the situation changes once they duke it out. The first race comes at the 4:15 mark and, as it turns out, was held against an upgraded 850+ horsepower Challenger!

So, even though his reaction time was better, the Hellcat shot out of its lane furiously, and like a raging rocket, it crossed the finish line in 10.08s at 143 mph (230 kph) – as opposed to Rich's Tesla Model 3 pass of 11.77s at 114 mph (183 kph). Secondly, after more talk about EVs and ICE-powered foes, from the 11-minute mark, it's time for the main event – the Model 3 going head-to-head with another Challenger Hellcat.

However, as Rich found out after the race, this was no ordinary Dodge given the 1,000+ ponies at the wheel – which is even more than what a Demon 170 can output, as the latter has 1,025 hp on E85 at the crank! Anyway, one can easily imagine the prepped Hellcat obliterated the Tesla Model 3 Performance – and the driver's reaction time showed he clearly knew what he was doing.

In the end, it's nice to see Rich still in awe about great muscle cars – and he had plenty of time to be dazed and amazed as by the time he crossed the finish line, the opponent's 9.26s ET at 150 mph (241 kph) was already listed on the electronic scoreboard!