When a regular Corvette races a regular Challenger, a quarter-mile drag strip is long enough. However, when you pit cars as powerful as the C7 Corvette Z06 and Challenger SRT Hellcat against each other, you need more track. You need to see which one crosses the half-mile mark first and fastest.
The video below shows a stock Z06 and an equally stock Hellcat competing to see which one can do just that. On paper, it’s a teeter-totter contest of abilities. Although the Dodge has 57 more horsepower, it’s about 900 pounds heavier. Depending on transmission and tires, either car can nail down a faster quarter-mile than the other.
But that’s all on paper. The drivers make a big difference in situations like the one you’re about to watch. How fast is the Hellcat owner off the line? How quick are his shifts? Can he make his ferocious feline outrun the supercharged Chevy?
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.
