Demon vs. Demon 170: The Two Ultimate Dodge Challengers Meet at Drag Strip

The Demon 170 is brand new with only 600 miles on the odometer and ran a 9.50 in the quarter.

In 2018, Dodge unleashed the ultimate drag car—the Demon. It used a larger supercharger and ran increased boost compared to the regular Hellcat at the time. On pump gas it made 808 horsepower. Fill it with 100+ octane race gas and it is good for 840 horsepower assuming you got the Demon Crate with the high-octane engine calibration.

Also in that crate was a set of front drag wheels and a host of other goodies. In short, the car was just plain mental and born for the drag strip. We loved it for that. We never thought we would see anything like it again. Until the Demon 170 showed up.

The Demon 170 took the already mental original Demon and turned it up to 11. Actually, it turned it up to 1,025. That is how much horsepower the Demon 170 puts out on E85. Dodge claimed it would do an 8.91 @151 mph quarter mile. This is with an honest to goodness internal combustion engine street car. Not some all-electric oversized golf cart. But could the Demon 170 really put down those numbers in the real world? Is it really quicker than the original Demon? Well, a video short posted on the 1iconicb YouTube channel managed to capture the two ultimate Dodge Challengers squared up on the drag strip. So, what happened?

Demon Vs. Demon 170

In the video the Demon 170 is in the near lane and is wearing a set of Hoosier drag radials. It is difficult to tell in the clip what the regular Demon is running for a tire. What isn’t difficult to tell is that the Demon 170 is indeed quicker. Both cars appear to get a good clean launch.

The Demon 170 launches so hard that it clearly lifts its front tires off the ground. Other than the tires, this is a street legal car that you can use to pick up groceries. And it is doing wheelies. Gotta love it. But it doesn’t get into the 8-second range. The Demon 170 runs a 9.50 ET, and the regular Demon puts down a 10.1 ET. Neither time is shabby but also slower than Dodge estimated.

Results

Why were the cars slower than promised? Because a million factors play into how quickly a car gets down the drag strip on a particular run. The new Demon was barely broken in as it had just 600 miles on it. We are sure that both of these cars can run quicker times.

But what this video does show is that the new car is indeed quicker than the old one. That should make the folks who shelled out big bucks for the new car sleep a little easier at night. The rest of us just get to enjoy the show.

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Joe Kucinski

Joe has been obsessed with cars since he got his very first Matchbox toy in the 1970s. In 2003, he found a new obsession in track days that led to obtaining his SCCA competition license in 2015. In 2019, he became a certified driving instructor for the National Auto Sport Association. His love for all things four wheels has never wavered, whether it's driving some of the best cars in the world on the racetrack, tackling 2,000-mile road trips in 2-seat sports cars or being winched off the side of a mountaintop in a Jeep. Writing for the suite of Internet Brands Auto Communities sites, including Rennlist.com, Ford Truck Enthusiasts, 6 Speed and more allows him to share that knowledge and passion with others.