The Dodge Charger is Still Around, but the Massive Amounts of Lift and Drag It Used to Have Are Not
The 1960s Dodge Charger is a classic American muscle. You can use a variety of superlatives to describe its design – “badass”, “solid”, “worth-selling-a-kidney-just-to-have-in-your-garage”, etc. In technical terms, the word “slick” is not one of them.
That’s because the B-body beast’s exterior has a blunt, squared-off nose and body work that wants to bash its way through a wind tunnel instead of glide through its jets of air. Just give the video below a watch. The ’69’s rectangular maw causes the air stream to separate and lift the front end. Things don’t improve around the A-pillars, thanks to the window trim and rain gutters. Those flying buttresses out back? They may look cool, but in a lab setting, they’re a big (source of) drag.
That wasn’t going to cut it at the NASCAR tracks back in the ’60s, so Dodge did some research on how to make the Charger Daytona slip through the atmosphere, then did some restyling. The big nose cone and sky-high wing were as aero-friendly as they were over-the-top. They contributed to significantly higher rear downforce. Along with a flush rear window, they also lowered lift and drag while simultaneously elevating Dodge to racing greatness.
Flash forward to the modern Charger SRT Hellcat. It’s built to drag, but its exterior wasn’t designed to. It has almost as much rear downforce as the Daytona, even though it has a much smaller spoiler, one whose height can be measured in millimeters, not feet. It may not be close to the Daytona wing’s level of cool, but it sure makes the Charger Hellcat look slick.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
