Demon Versus Hellcat in Top Dodge Tuner Duel: Track Time Tuesday

Dodge Demon built and driven by Tim Barth takes on a Hellcat built and driven by Josh Schwartz at Hemi’Nsanity 2019.

This past weekend, the Modern Street Hemi Shootout series headed to Lapeer International Dragway for Hemi’Nsanity 2019, bringing the quickest modern Dodge street legal drag racers to Michigan. Among the huge crowd of racers were Tim Barth and Josh Schwartz, arguably the two top tuners in the modern Mopar world, with each of them building, tuning and in some cases, driving many record-setting Dodge Challengers and Chargers.

With both of them campaigning a customer’s car in the Modern Street Hemi Shootout Super Pro class, they met in the first round of qualifying and we were on hand to capture the thrilling battle. Today’s Track Time Tuesday features that battle from my own YouTube channel, showing a couple of world record-setting tuners duking it out on the quarter mile.

Dodge Demon and Hellcat Details

The video above showcases a drag race between a yellow 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon and a 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat. The yellow muscle car is built, tuned and driven by Tim Barth of Barth Tuning while the white car is built, tuned and driven by Josh Schwartz of High Horse Performance, with each of the cars being owned by customers.

The Demon is fitted with a 4.2-liter Kenne Bell supercharged delivering 19 pounds of boost on an E90 tune, with a forged bottom end and a FORE fuel system. This video shows the first run by Barth in this car, so it was on a gentle tune, but it clearly still gets down the track in a hurry. Barth plans to turn the boost up to around 26 pounds and add a 200-shot of nitrous, but while he is breaking-in this new setup and learning the car, he is running no bottle and lighter boost.

As for the white Challenger, that is the Hellcat known as “TopCat”. Built by Josh Schwartz, this car has held the record for the world’s quickest Hellcat on multiple occasions, with Schwartz handling the driving duties for owner Linda Tout after her husband John passed away. John wanted to have a record-setting Hellcat and since his untimely passing, his wife Linda has carried the torch with Schwartz at the wheel.

The white Hellcat Challenger features a BES Racing Engines ported blower, ported heads and custom street/strip camshaft on the original stock bottom end, a Metco 2.65 upper pulley, an ATI overdrive lower pulley, a Nitrous Outlet plate kit, ARH Headers, Diablosport CMR tuning software, a ProTorque Converter, a Southern Hot Rods transmission, a Driveshaft Shop 9-inch rear differential conversion, a TCE 15-inch brake conversion with Bogart Racing wheels and Mickey Thompson tires, Santhuff Shocks, HHP Drag Springs, and a BMR full rear suspension kit.

While Barth is new to the Demon, Schwartz is not new to this Hellcat, having previously run in the 8.80s, but with this being the first qualifying run of the event, he is running a lighter nitrous shot, so he isn’t on record-setting pace.

Tuner Duel

In the video above, Barth and the yellow Demon are in the left lane while Schwartz and the TopCat Hellcat are in the right lane. They both inch into the beams, rolling into the throttle a bit as the staging bulbs illuminate and when the green lights drop, both Mopar monsters rip away from the starting line.

On the start, the two cars are side-by-side with Schwartz appearing to have a small lead. The two head down the track just like this, with the top two tuners in the modern Mopar world making a great qualifying run, when a bit of smoke comes from Barth’s Demon. That smoke turned out to come from a failing valve cover gasket, but it didn’t stop the bright yellow beast from running a 9.37 at 153 miles per hour.

However, with a 9.32 at 151 miles per hour, Josh Schwartz and the Hellcat got to the finish line first.

With both of these cars being regulars in the Modern Street Hemi Shootout series, the odds are good that we will see them matched up again when they are both running better elapsed times, but this video still showcases two of the biggest names in the modern Mopar tuning world in a great drag race.

Crank up your speakers and enjoy!

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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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