Pontiac — A new yellow-and-black Dodge Charger Super Bee screamed around a corner into the M1 Concourse racetrack infield before spinning donuts — tire smoke billowing — and coming to a halt next to Dodge CEO Matt McAlear.
A couple of highly customized Chargers specially built for drifting had already ripped turns around the executive, clad in jeans and cowboy boots, moments before. Parked nearby were more Chargers packed with extra horsepower, ready to take on the nearby street drag races on Woodward Avenue.
Welcome to Roadkill Nights, the wild Pontiac motorhead event that for 11 years has involved a blend of Dodge muscle car reveals, drifting and drag racing on Woodward. Part drag race, part car show, the event organized by Dodge and MotorTrend is open to the public on Saturday and serves as the unofficial opener for next week’s Woodward Dream Cruise.
This year’s Roadkill adds a new racing feature: a road course on the M1 racetrack, where competitors drive time trials in their car of choice.
“It’s always, ‘What can we do to go above and beyond? How can we push the needle? What do we do we haven’t done before?'” McAlear told The Detroit News a few minutes after unveiling the new Super Bee. He described the annual gathering as Dodge’s “Super Bowl of horsepower” and “our circus.”
Under the looser emissions standards of the Trump administration, Dodge has pivoted back to its gas-burning, tire-spinning roots. It’s free to launch new models like the limited-edition Super Bee, which for now is the most powerful gas-powered Charger available.
The Super Bee — which calls back to Dodge muscle cars with the same moniker in the 1960s and ’70s — uses the Charger’s typical six-cylinder engine paired with new turbochargers, a larger cooling system and other enhancements to churn out 600 horsepower and 531 pound-feet of torque, resulting in a 0-60 mph time of 3.6 seconds. The company hasn’t announced pricing or availability timing.
But McAlear said the Super Bee is just the start: even higher-powered Chargers are on the way from Stellantis’ Street and Racing Technology division, or SRT. McAlear won’t say if those top-end Chargers will ultimately incorporate one of the automaker’s legendary Hemi V-8s. The big engine can fit inside a Charger, sure — but significant testing would be required, he said, and “just because something can be done doesn’t mean it can be legal, safe and reliable.”
The executive is still trying to build awareness for the latest-generation gas six-cylinder Charger, which sold under 5,000 units through the first half of this year in the United States. That’s not to mention the Charger Daytona, an electric version that came out a year earlier and never caught on with Dodge fans; the carmaker has only been producing the EV Charger sporadically lately amid weak demand.
“Every design, every new generation, you have your own challenges as you build (customer) awareness,” McAlear said of the Charger, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. “This one was absolutely more challenging.”
As part of Dodge’s push to build awareness for the Charger, eight contestants in the headliner Dodge Direct Connection Grudge Race at Roadkill Nights were required to use the latest-generation Charger — which they were then free to customize. Some contestants souped up their cars with more than 1,000 horsepower. They take to the Woodward Avenue track later Saturday afternoon.
“Everybody’s given the same opportunity with the same budget,” said John O’Malley, 39, who runs a popular YouTube channel and brand called Boosted Motorsports, and had eked out more than 900 horses from his stripped-down Charger. “It’s about who makes the best of it. Everybody got the same starting point, and then we’ll see where the chips lay at the end.”
O’Malley, from outside Tampa, was hoping to improve on his first-round elimination last year. Demi Bagby, the only woman in this year’s Grudge Race, was also hoping to build on her experience at last year’s Roadkill, when she was driving a souped-up Buick Grand National and was still learning the ins and outs of drag racing.
The 25-year-old influencer from Arizona said she’s since picked up more practice. And she’s now racing a car, a four-door Charger with a colorful Detroit-themed wrap, that not only has all-wheel-drive but also air conditioning, unlike last year’s old Grand National: “This year we went with a car that I can drive when I get home.”
As for her chances Saturday? “I was the only girl that was invited, so that’s pretty awesome. Got to show up all the boys.”
lramseth@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Faster Dodge Charger revealed as street racing on Woodward gets underway
Reporting by Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Luke Ramseth, The Detroit News | USA TODAY Network
