Hemi-powered Charger sedan gets the jump on the start, but the older muscle car takes the win.
This week’s Track Time Tuesday video comes to us from the Wheels YouTube channel and it features a battle between a 1968 Dodge Charger and a 2018 Dodge Charger. In stock form, the B5 Blue, Hemi-powered sedan should comfortably beat any of the street-legal Mopar muscle cars from 1968, but this classic is clearly not stock and the late-model Mopar owner finds himself on the losing end of things.
Competitors
There are no details on either of the cars in action, but we can make some guesses as to what these drivers are working with in this run.
In the near lane is a 2018 Dodge Charger with 392 badges, so it is either a Scat Pack or SRT 392 model. In either case, it is powered by a 392-cubic inch Hemi with 485 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque. It appears to look and sound stock, so we can safely guess that this is a near-stock Charger from the 2018 model year.
In the far lane is a 1968 Dodge Chargerthat clearly sits a bit lower than an original muscle car and it is riding on wheels that are larger and wider than the stock rollers. Based on how flat the car launches, we would guess that it has a fairly amount of suspension work done, and based on the top-end speeds, we would guess that the engine has been modified as well. Regardless of what is under the hood, if it is one of the engines offered back in 1968, the odds are good that it has been modified at least a little in order to trap 114 miles per hour in the quarter mile.
The Battle
Both of these Dodge Chargers do fairly crappy burnouts before heading to the tree, so it comes as little surprise that when the green lights drop, neither car really comes tearing away from the line. The 2018 Charger gets out a bit better, taking a small early lead, but by the time the two have reached half-track, the classic has pulled into the lead.
The 1968 Charger ends up winning by a couple lengths on the big end, running a 12.87 at 114.24 miles per hour while the new car runs a 13.00 at 108.59 miles per hour.
"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.
