Dodge Charger Hellcat Road Racer Avoids Crash When Wheel Breaks

Charger Hellcat sustained damage to the body, but the driver kept it off of the wall.

The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat shown here is owned and road raced by Onur Can. Can is active in the Hellcat-owner online community, providing regular updates as to the progress of the upgrades that he makes to transform his full-sized sedan into a road course beast. The car is heavily modified from top to bottom, packing more than 900 horsepower from a 426-cubic inch Hellcat Hemi.

Unfortunately, while road racing recently, Can had a front wheel fail dramatically as he was entering a turn, hard on the brakes. He managed to keep the car under control and stay off of the wall, but as it always the case, he shared pictures of the damage on social media. That led some media outlets to run articles about how Can installed cheap wheels on his car without reaching out to him for more information.

In reality, he was sold wheels that he was told would be ideal for road racing, but he had clearly been done dirty by a wheel dropshipper looking to make a buck.

Onur Can’s Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

We spoke to Onur Can and got the full details on his heavily raced Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and what happened that led up to that broken wheel.

To show that Can is not afraid of spending money on his Hellcat Charger, here is a look at his build sheet.

Engine:
426 cubic inch Hellcat Hemi
CP Pistons
Manley Rods
Manley Crankshaft
ARP Studs
BES Racing Engines Ported and Built Heads
BES Racing Engines Camshaft
ID1300 Fuel Injectors
ATI 10% Lower Pulley
Metco Idler Pulley
Metco 2.75 Upper Pulley
Ported Blower Snout
Ported Blower Bearing Plate
105mm HHP Throttle Body
Fore Dual Fuel Pumps
Snow Performance Water/Meth Injection
BWoody Heat Exchanger
Legmarker Cold Air Intake
Catless Exhaust
Tuned by Josh Schwartz from High Horse Performance

Chassis, Suspension and Aero:
Dodge Viper Brembo Calipers and Rotors
Brake Fluid Cooler
Hawk DTC 70 Brake Pads
Custom Brake Cooling Ducts
KW Lowering Springs
Speedlogix Front and Rear Strut Braces
AAD Adjustable upper and lower control arms
AAD Trailing Arms
AAD Tow Arm
BMR Cradle Lockouts
DSS One Piece Driveshaft
DSS Axles
3.09 Rear Differential
Per4Mance Development Differential Brace
Cipher Harness Bar
Cipher 5 Point Harness
Chassis Mounted Front Splitter
Custom Canards
72-inch Rear Wing

The car is modified in pretty much every way and in most cases, Can has bought the best of everything. For two years, he had actually been road racing on Challenger Demon replica wheels that cost him $200 a piece, but he decided to get into a better set of wheels.

He was directed to a guy runs a company that sells wheels online, so he reached out to that person to explain what he was looking for and what he does with the car. Can was clear that he road races the car often, and the seller set him up with a set of wheels that he stated were forged.

We have not included them here, but Can showed us the discussions with the wheel seller, confirming what was said between the two of them.

Unfortunately, the wheels in question are not fully forged and on just the fourth time to the track the passenger’s side front wheel failed dramatically.

Broken Wheel

Can was early in his fourth trip to the track on his new wheels when he rocketed down a long straight away in his Hellcat Charger. As he approached a left-hand turn, he hammered the brakes to slow the car down before turning hard into the corner.

That was when Can heard a loud bang from the front end of his Dodge Charger. A second later, he watched what appeared to be one of his wheels go bouncing out away from the track, into the outside retaining wall.

Without the outside right front wheel in a hard left turn, he had to struggle to stay out of the tires lining the outside wall. He did end up in the deep grass, which when combined with the tire coming off, damaged the right front fender and the lower rocker skirt on the passenger’s side.

Upon examining the wheel, Can realized that the wheels that he was told were forged, were not fully forged. The wheels have a portion that is cast and a portion that is forged, and part of the cast portion failed.

The manufacturer of the wheel went so far as to tell Can that they would not recommend those wheels for road racing in a Hellcat Charger, and that the guy who sold Can the wheels shouldn’t have recommended them for this car.

Because there are possible legal implications of this situation, we have excluded the names of the people and companies involved with this wheel failure. The good news is that Can is speaking with some big name wheel companies to get the proper rollers on his road racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.

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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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