Ram 1500 packs a 422-cubic inch Hemi with a Whipple blower, making 809 wheel horsepower.
This week’s Track Time Tuesday video comes to us from the YouTube channel of Moe’s Performance and it features a 2014 Ram 1500 taking on a 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon at Lonestar Motorsports Park. In most cases, a Demon taking on an average half-ton pickup would lead to a beating, but this Ram is far from average, parking more wheel horsepower than any stock Challenger.
The Competitors
The footage above features a 2014 Ram 1500 regular cab, short bed pickup going head-to-head with a 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. We don’t know of the modifications for the Demon, but based on the results, we are going to guess that it is stock or near-stock. As for the truck, it is owned by Matt Fikac, owner of Moe’s Performance. Moe’s Performance specializes in modern Dodge and Ram trucks, helping to create some of the quickest Mo-powered pickups in the world, so it should come as no surprise that the shop’s owner has a badass Ram of his own.
This 2014 Ram is powered by a 422-cubic inch Hemi from Modern Muscle Extreme, topped with a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger. When tuned to run on an E85 blend, this truck laid down a whopping 809 horsepower and 778 lb-ft of torque at the rear wheels, with help from an 8HP70 from Paramount Performance and a set of 315-millimeter-wide Mickey Thompson Radial Pro tires.
With power like that, this 1500 packs more muscle than a stock Demon, but the Demon is at least a little lighter, making this a tough battle for both of these modern Mopar leviathans.
The Battle
The video begins with the Ram and Demon each doing a big, smoky burnout before heading to the starting line. After carefully staging, the lights come down and the Whipple’d Ram jumps out to an early lead with a great launch. At half-track, it is still a close fight and on the big end, the Demon appears to barely edge out the half-ton truck, but the point of this video isn’t who won or lost the race.
The point of this feature is that Fikac’s 1500 runs a 10.95 at nearly 126 miles per hour, leaving with a 1.6848 short time. This is the kind of performance that many drag racing Ram owners have in mind when they begin their build and the owner of Moe’s Performance shows the results of a proper build of a modern Mopar pickup.
"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.
