2016 Roadkill Nights by Dodge Coming to Kansas City, Detroit

Dodge and SRT enthusiasts flooded the gates for the free pop-up car festival featuring flashlight drag races and a Show and Shine vehicle display. More than 200 classic and modern day muscle cars drag raced on a custom 1/8-mile custom drag strip. Brandon Phillips of Sterling Heights, Mich., won the ultimate prize, a new 6.2-liter supercharged HEMI Hellcat that produces an unprecedented 707 horsepower when his 1969 Dodge Charger Super Bee cruised to a winning finish in an old-school grudge-style drag race. Dodge fans also lined up to take thrill rides in Dodge Vipers and Charger and Challenger SRT Hellcats.

The Chrysler Group has announced that there will be a 2016 Roadkill Nights by Dodge, following up on the successful 2015 campaign with a pair of events – one in Kansas City and another in Detroit.

Last August, Dodge teamed up with the crew from the popular internet series Roadkill to introduce Roadkill Nights by Dodge – a pop-up automotive gathering with drag racing, a car show and a big spread of Dodge-themed displays, including a thrill ride area with the Hellcat Challenger, the Hellcat Charger and the Dodge Viper. It was an amazing show with a heavy Dodge emphasis, but there were vehicles from all makes and models and enthusiasts of all makes and models. In fact, I spoke with a few friends who are hardcore Ford and GM guys, and they praised the Chrysler Group for putting on such a great event. Making it even greater was the fact that entry was free for spectators, show cars and racers, and as a result – there was a massive turnout.

Based on that success, the company pledged early on to hold a 2016 Roadkill Nights by Dodge event, but it turns out that they will actually have two of these events this summer and the first one is next month in Kansas City, Kansas. The details are only available for this KC event, but I expect that both events will be very similar in their layout to last year’s event at the Pontiac Silverdome.

“When more than 10,000 performance enthusiasts flooded the gates at the first ‘Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge’ event at last year’s Woodward Cruise Week, we promised the event would be back, and it is,” said Tim Kuniskis, Head of Passenger Car Brands — Dodge, SRT, Chrysler and Fiat, FCA — North America. “Even more than a pure enthusiast event filled with drag racing, thrill rides and live music, Roadkill Nights gets people off the streets and onto a track run by professionals, so they can really show how their hot rods perform in a more controlled environment.”

First up, the 2016 Roadkill Nights by Dodge event will be held on June 18^th at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas from 1pm to 10pm. This event will be built around 4 basic attractions – drag racing, the show n shine area, the Dodge thrill ride area and the manufacturers’ midway with Dodge themed displays, live music, food trucks and free Dodge swag. Admission is free for spectators and car show participants, but drag racing will cost $50 per car this year – presumably to weed out the people who have no business being on a drag strip. Last year in Detroit, there were vehicles racing just because it was free and they happened to get in, but their vehicles had no place on a race track. This fee should keep those people away, while making room for more serious racers.

The second Roadkill Nights by Dodge event will be held in Metro Detroit and while the details haven’t been specified, the Motor City event will be held on August 19^th – the night before the 2016 Woodward Dream Cruise. According to the Roadkill Facebook page, the drag racing at the Detroit event will take place on Woodward Avenue, but it is unclear how they will pull that off. We can also expect a car show area and plenty of Dodge attractions, but without any details, that is purely speculation. When details become available, you’ll find them here.

The video below shows one of the races, pitting the Hellcat Dart from Fast N Loud against the Hellcat Charger from Roadkill.

In the meantime, click here to sign up for the Kansas City event.

Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

Rall can be contacted at QuickMirada@Yahoo.com

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