Mopar Insanity: The Ups and Downs of Racing a 1,500 Horsepower Dodge Challenger
Having a 1,500 horsepower Dodge Challenger on nitrous sounds like fun, but as we see here the path to glory is rarely smooth.
A Dodge Challenger Hellcat is a quick car. But if you want to compete on the drag strip you need to be more than just quick. You need to be stupid quick. And that means you are going to need to make stupid power. And sometimes that can cause some stupid crap to break. The car you see here is a 1,500 horsepower Dodge Challenger. It is a lesson in both speed and perseverance. It shows you that if you really push your car and you race it hard that sometimes bad things will happen. But winners stay committed and push through the tough times. You might not win every race but not quitting is a winner’s attitude and that is half the battle.
This week’s “Wicked Wednesday” is all about this 1,500 horsepower Dodge Challenger. The car perfectly illustrates the highs and lows of racing a high-performance machine. It is owned by Westen Champlin and he recently competed in Roadkill Nights with it. He uploaded a video of the event and the events that led up to it on his YouTube channel. Champlin and his Challenger put on a heck of a show before losing to Alex Taylor in the final in her 1955 Plymouth Savoy. But the fact that Champlin and his car even competed at all was a major win.
Miracle Car
This 1,500 horsepower Dodge Challenger is a miracle not just for the power it makes but for the manner in which it was built. Champlin put this car together in just 14 days. Two weeks to take a shell of a Challenger and turn it into a competitive drag car is an astonishing feat. But on the way to Detroit for the race the clutch failed. For many that would have meant dropping out of the competition. But not for Champlin. He and his team loaded it up on a trailer and worked all night and morning on it. They needed to drive all over Detroit looking for a clutch alignment tool to finish the job. They got it just 30 minutes before the car was due at the track. But the transmission would not go in and he ended up having to get it there on the trailer.
Work Continues
After the press conference at the track the car was back on the trailer and back to the shop. They finally got everything sorted and the car running the day before the race. Going on no sleep with a car that was just bolted together is not the ideal way to begin a race day. But it does show that real racers never quit and having an extreme car takes an extreme amount of work.
Racing
Champlin and his Challenger preformed flawlessly on race day. That in itself is a victory. But they also beat all the other racers. Until the final race with Taylor and her Savoy which proved to be a little too much for Champlin to handle. The racing is entertaining, and the car is impressive. But the video below is worth watching for the lesson it teaches about perseverance. Winners never quit. Champlin and his Challenger are winners.
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