Straightline Banshee - Why the New Dodge Challenger Demon isn't Irrelevant

The new Dodge Demon has been somewhat polarizing since its reveal. Some people think it’s useless because it’s impractical, while others argue that it isn’t anything new, that other cars have been turning some of the same numbers for years. The flares are too big, the scoop is too obnoxious, the list of complaints people make goes on and on. This car was built for entirely different reasons, and to see these reasons we’ll need to take a bit of a history lesson.

Dodge Dart Demon 340

In 1971 Dodge added the Demon badge to their small car, the Dart. This new package came with 240hp, optional 4 speed manual transmission, and an optional 3.55 rear axle. This combined package with the shorter ratio rear axle makes the Demon accelerate very fast. 0-60 was achieved in 6.4 seconds, while the shorter ratio reduced the top speed from 124mph to 112mph. This car was not built to be practical. The demon was built to be able to be tuned for the drag strip. The car was light, minimalist, and while the engine didn’t make huge power from the factory it had a lot of room to be modified, making the Dart Demon a popular and extremely fast drag car.

Back to the Present

Return to the new Demon and the similarities can be quickly found. The air grabber scoop at the front, the weight savings, the modified tune to be ready to hit the drag strip. These aren’t new features for a production car, but Dodge took it up a notch with this car. Nowadays most people who tune and build drag cars use older cars as bases because the chassis is cheap and they can swap in whatever engine they want. Modern muscle cars haven’t received as much attention for drag tuning as past models. The new Demon attacks this issue, because Dodge puts in all of the required tuning from the factory, only lacking two key features that can be added by the owner if they desire to enter competition. A parachute and a roll cage. The new Demon returns to an age where factory cars could be slightly modified and taken drag racing, and still be competitive. Most cars this fast are not at all street legal.

Why is this Car Important?

Sure there are other cars built by Ford and Chevy, specifically the Cobra Jet and Copo Camaro, that can spank the Demon on a drag strip, but these cars can’t be driven to the drag strip under their own power, and they are nowhere near being full production models. The Demon has been called irrelevant, because modern day muscle cars have moved more towards handling. The top spec stock Mustang, the GT350, is a completely handling focused car that doesn’t turn super fast quarter mile times. The top spec stock Camaro, the ZL1 1LE, has numerous aerodynamic parts that make it go faster around a road course, but it isn’t spectacularly fast on the drag strip. The Hellcat was senseless traditional straight line muscle but it doesn’t so much turn its 707hp into speed as it does tire smoke. The Demon finally answers the question people had forgotten to ask: How fast can a production car run a quarter mile?

The specs of the Demon are what it thrives on. Record breaking stats on all fronts. Fastest 0-60, fastest quarter mile, only production car to get wheel lift. The Demon does these insane things because Dodge didn’t care to make it comfortable, or handle well, or take passengers and luggage. They made the Demon to be the fastest production car in the quarter mile, and it met that goal. And before you say it was made illegal by the NHRA, that’s only because it’s too fast not to have a roll cage and parachute.

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