2016 Roadkill Nights by Dodge Coming to Kansas City, Detroit
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 18th 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 19th – 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.