Stock Dodge Demon Beats SRT’s Official Quarter-mile Time

Demon running stock power and stock weight ran a 9.57 and 9.58.

When Dodge introduced the 2018 Challenger SRT Demon, they advertised an official, word record-setting quarter mile time of 9.65 seconds. The team involved with bringing the 840-horsepower beast to life made it clear that those 9.65 runs were made in ideal conditions on a perfectly prepared surface, and that those conditions would be hard to replicate. Those conditions are nearly impossible to replicate and as a result, we hadn’t seen a Demon without extra power or significant weight reduction run quicker times than 9.65.

That all changed earlier this week when Byron Godbee drove 2018 Demon #3299 to a pair of quarter-mile passes in the 9.50s on stock power and without any major weight reduction efforts. Mind you, plenty of Demons have gone considerably quicker than 9.50s, but they all had extra power, weight reduction or both. Godbee’s car is stock, aside from one basic change.

Demon #3299

The white 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon shown in these videos from the Legion of Demons YouTube channel is owned and driven by Byron Godbee. Prior to this week, his Challenger was the quickest of the modern Demons without extra power or significant weight reduction with a time of 9.70. However, like many Demon owners, Godbee wanted to match the official Dodge time. He spent more than a year trying and on December 20, he traveled to Carolina Dragway in South Carolina, where he would get the conditions needed to take a real shot at Dodge’s record.

For this record run, Godbee’s Demon was equipped with the single-seat interior configuration with the high performance items from the crate. The only non-factory items on the car were the Billet Specialties wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson drag radials rather than the stock wheels and Nitto drag radials. So he had a different rear tire and different wheels, but it is still in the same class of drag radials as the stock tires.

Setting the Record

In the video above, Byron Godbee becomes the first private Demon owner to meet-or-exceed the Dodge time of 9.65 without extra power. On this run, he launched without the TransBrake, yet he still pulled a 1.37 60-foot time. That run saw an eighth-mile time of 6.121 at 113.24 miles per hour and at the big end, he stopped the timers with a 9.579 at 140.53 miles per hour.

Godbee backed up that run with the video below. On that pass, his Challenger actually got out a bit better, pulling a 1.345 60-foot time and getting to the 8^th mile stripe in just 6.105 seconds with a speed of 112.65. He was a touch slower on the big end, but with a 9.586 at 139.16 miles per hour, Godbee proved that his 9.57 was not a fluke.

This is a fitting record for Godbee, as he is one of the most active members of the modern Demon owner community. In fact, he runs the Legion of Demons organization, which has events just for owners where other owners offer instruction on how to use the unique features of the car. Their next event is Houston in January and along with Godbee, we could see more privately owned Demons running in the 9.50s.

In the meantime, crank up your speakers and enjoy this look at the first privately owned 2018 Dodge Demon beating the automaker’s official times.

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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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