The World’s Quickest Automatic Hellcat Challenger Goes 9.05

This past weekend, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat ran a 9.05 quarter mile, making it the quickest automatic Hellcat in the world.

The quickest Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat in the world is a three-pedal car running a Liberty racing manual transmission, but this past weekend, Michael Cole and his supercharged Mopar muscle car ran a 9.05. This makes it the quickest automatic transmission Hellcat car in the world. Even though the vast majority of Hellcat cars sold in the past three years are fitted with the 8-speed automatic transmission, none of them have gotten as close to the 8s as Cole – and there is room for improvement.

Michael Cole’s Hellcat Challenger

Before getting into his record run, here is a quick look at Michael Cole’s Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, which is still running a surprising number of factory components. This car is powered by the factory 8-speed automatic transmission without any changes, along with the factory rear differential with the original 2.62 gear set and a differential brace.

The supercharged Hellcat Hemi is completely stock on the inside. This engine still has the factory heads, the factory camshaft, the factory bottom end and it is still 6.2 liters. Power levels are increased by adding a smaller supercharger pulley and a big nitrous setup – all of which is tuned by Injected Engineering to make big power on E85.

Next, Cole’s Hellcat Challenger has a drag-friendly suspension setup and a small rear brake conversion, allowing him to run smaller wheels and stickier 325mm-wide tires out back. He also added a roll cage and a parachute to make it NHRA-legal to run the times and speeds in the video above.

So, Michael Cole’s Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat has an engine with stock internals, simple external bolt-ons, a nitrous setup and a great tune. All of that power goes through the stock 8-speed automatic transmission and through the stock 2.62 rear differential to the massive rear tires, which with the help of the race-ready suspension allowed this Mopar monster to cover the quarter mile in just 9.05 seconds.

On that record run, this Hellcat Challenger had a 1.485 short time and in the 8^th mile, Cole ran a 5.868 at 124.2mph en route to his 9.05 at 155.6.

The Record Almost Didn’t Happen

It should be noted that on the weekend that Cole ran his record-setting 9.05, he broke the supercharger when he did a burnout with the nitrous engaged on the first day. As a result, he drove home, picked up his spare supercharger and returned to the track, where folks from EMPNEWYORK, Swamp Yankee Performance, Injected Engineering and Team Move Over all worked together to get the car buttoned up for another run.

On that next run with the replacement supercharger which was a rebuilt unit from Jon Bond Performance, Michael Cole set the 9.05 automatic transmission record.

After that, the team cranked up the nitrous levels, but he didn’t get another run, forcing him to “settle” for the new automatic Hellcat record of 9.05 at 155.6 miles per hour. In other words, it looks as though there is an 8-second run in Michael Cole’s Challenger, so the overall Hellcat quarter mile record appears to be well within reach.

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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