Multiple videos offer definitive evidence of drag radial tires’ supremacy to stock tires.
There aren’t many reasons to criticize the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, but the first thing that many owners change when they want to enjoy this modern Mopar muscle to its full potential is to add far stickier tires. The stock Pirelli tire is fine for everyday driving and it will bite hard enough to allow Hellcat owners to beat just about anything on the street, but the track is a different story.
Adding drag radial tires brings the Hellcat Dodge cars to life and to show just how much it helps, we have a pair of videos showing two different Challengers running down the 8th mile track.
The first video shows a Hellcat Challenger being driven by yours truly during a testing session at FCA’s Chelsea Proving Grounds. This car is 100% stock and as you can see, we are making 8th mile runs on an untreated strip of asphalt, so the surface isn’t as sticky as your average track. On the launch, you can hear how I was forced to play with the throttle to keep the tires from spinning, but even with this relatively soft launch, you can hear the tires screaming to break loose.
In the end, I ran a 7.80 at 96 miles per hour with the stock Hellcat Challenger.
This second video shows a Hellcat Challenger owned by someone named Jenny, and her supercharged Dodge is stock with the exception of drag radial tires. You can hear that she eases it out a bit as well, but she clearly gets into the power and away from the starting line in a much quicker fashion than the stock-tire car in the first video. Again, while the better surface helps, the key factor here is the drag radial tire setup on Jenny’s Challenger.
In the end of her run, she laid down an impressive 6.97 at 101 miles per hour.
The times tell the story, but in watching each video, you can hear and see how much harder Jenny’s Challenger gets out of the hole compared to my test car with the stock rubber.
Finally, here is another angle of Jenny’s 6.97 run from the side of the track, giving a better look at the run.
"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.
