Todd Barber’s twin turbocharged Dodge Challenger is one wicked machine and even though he has only had the car out a few times, he is already running in the mid-8s.
This past weekend, the Modern Street Hemi Shootout kicked off its 2017 season at Rockingham Dragway, bringing some of the quickest late model Mopar muscle cars to North Carolina to battle it out for big money. One of the cars in attendance was the Hellcat Challenger of Leon and Jason Epling, which set the record for the quickest Hellcat quarter mile time ever, but there were plenty of other crazy-quick machines on hand.
One of the other monsters at the MSHS Rockingham event was the twin turbo Dodge Challenger R/T owned and driven by Todd Barber. This car, shown backing out of the trailer above, it powered by a 414 cubic inch aluminum Hemi from Modern Muscle, topped by ported and polished 6.1L cylinder heads and – most importantly, fitted with a set of 67mm turbochargers from GearHead Fabrications. That wicked twin turbo Hemi sends the power through an ATI T400 transmission and a DriveShaft Shop 9 inch rear end.
Oh, and we should point out that Todd Barber drives this twin turbo Challenger on the street, so the license plate behind that parachute is not just for show – this is a street car.
This past weekend was Todd’s third event with the car and the current build, and he has gone quicker at each venue. At Rockingham, Barber’s Challenger turned its quickest time to date – laying down an awesome 8.65 at 156.72 miles per hour. During the course of the weekend, Barber won the Demon Performance Super Pro class with a run of 8.985 while making a handful of other runs in the 8-second range. The video at the top of the piece shows the run between Barber and Jason Epling, and while Epling set the Hellcat quarter mile record on this run – the twin turbo Challenger R/T got there first.
We have included a few other videos of Todd Barber’s twin turbo Challenger in action and while the videos make it hard to see what he runs on each pass – it is incredible to watch this street-legal Mopar muscle car rip away from the starting line.
"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.
