Soon enough, the S550 Ford Mustang, C7 Chevy Corvette, and L-bodied Hellcats will fade into distant memory because none of them are in production anymore. Luckily, the local quarter-mile dragstrip still remains a safe haven to remind us they were once feisty and cool, though not necessarily at the same time.
The C7 Chevy Corvette made way for the arrival of the C8 generation back in 2019, so it's the oldest of the bunch. It's a significant model, though, as it turned out to be the last of its front-engined RWD kind and marked the end of a very long era for 'America's sports car.' The S550 iteration of the iconic Mustang pony car dropped from the spotlight during the summer of 2023 to make way for the S650 seventh-generation 2024 Mustang, a model that simply continued its strong legacy of 5.0-liter Coyote V8 greatness.
Last but not least, the L-bodied Dodge Charger sedan and Challenger coupe have also bowed out from the production line back in December 2023, also marking the end of an era for the world of Mopar – from now on there will be no more 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 SRT Hellcat wonders, no more Challengers (as far as we know), and no more Charger sedans.
Instead, the latter will revert to its classic two-door fastback coupe body style and adopt the novel EV lifestyle in Charger Daytona guise. At the same time, the regular models will tuck the 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six turbo S/O and H/O engines under the hood, according to the rumor mill. However, until that happens, the best thing about the local quarter-mile dragstrip is that you can bring older models to any skirmish, and no one will frown on it.
Well, there's a reason for this favorable situation, as you are about to see – the other great thing about these races is that you never know when you'll find a nine-second wonder, or two, or even three! The videographer behind the Drag Racing and Car Stuff channel on YouTube loves circling between Orland Speed World Dragway, Bradenton Motorsports Park, and Edgewater Motor Sports Park, for example.
While enjoying a stint at Cincinnati's premier NHRA drag racing facility, he also stumbled upon the classic Ford vs. GM vs. Mopar clash, and we couldn't be happier about it. So, the main characters in the video embedded below are a white and dark-striped S550 Ford Mustang GT, an orange C7 Chevy Corvette, and a dark gray Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.
First, the Mustang GT clashed with the orange wonder from GM, and while most people would expect times of around 12 seconds on the quarter-mile, this race brought us wondrous surprises when the two darted off the start line and roared toward the finish in 9.53s and 9.73s, respectively. The Ford Mustang GT won and remained on point for a second skirmish against the gray Mopar. In the end, there can be only one absolutely surprising nine-second wonder, so the Blue Oval posted an even better final result of 9.49s, narrowly beating the 9.53s Mopar pursuer!
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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