The folks at Chrysler have announced the winners of their 2016 Drive for Design contest – which invited high school students around the country to create their vision of the 2025 Dodge SRT Hellcat. The contest didn’t specify what kind of car the 2025 Dodge SRT Hellcat should be, but the contest inspiration images included the current Hellcat Challenger and Charger, along with the SRT Tomahawk.
The winner of the contest was Ben Treinen, from Archbishop Moeller High School in Cincinnati, Ohio, who created the 2025 Dodge SRT Hellcat in red – which takes obvious cues from the current Charger. Basically, the winning car could be (in theory) the 2025 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat. For winning the contest, Treinen will receive a MacBook Pro, a 3 week course at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, three passes to the Detroit Autorama, a 2 night stay in beautiful Auburn Hills, Michigan and dinner with members of the Chrysler group design team. Also, while at Autorama, Ben Treinen will be officially named the winner of the Drive for Design contest.
In addition to naming the winner, Chrysler also picked 2nd, 3rd and 4th place finishers – all of which get impressive prize packages of their own. While they don’t get the MacBook, they do get a new iPad Pro, a 3 week course at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, three passes to the Detroit Autorama, a 2 night stay in beautiful Auburn Hills, Michigan and dinner with members of the Chrysler group design team. These runners-up are shown below. As you can see, while the winner was a Charger-like design, the 2nd-4th place finishers all followed the cues of the SRT Tomahawk.
Second place – Harrison Kunselman, Mount de Sales Academy (Macon, Georgia)
Third place – Hwanseong Jang, Bloomfield Hills High School (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan)
Fourth place – Andrew Gombac, Loyola Academy (Wilmette, Illinois)
Congrats from DodgeForum to the winners of the Chrysler Drive for Design contest and kudos to Chrysler for running these programs which encourage high school kids to get involved with vehicle design.
"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.
