Not content to rest on their laurels, however, Chrysler’s then-president Lynn Townsend and the execs that oversaw the Drag Race Program continued to push engineers like 426 Hemi architect/Engineering Coordinator Tom Hoover to advance Mopar’s standing at the strip by overkill. A temporary alliance with the Hurst Corporation was formed, and the Hurst Hemi Darts and Barracuda Package Cars were the resulting superior firepower. When either of these “street-Hemis” appeared at the strip, so did throngs of fans and potential performance parts customers itching to see Ford and GM rivals get creamed by cars banned from legal registration in all 50 states yet sold as lawfully as a pair of sunglasses to any enthusiast with about $4,600.
All told, between 1966 and 1971 Chrysler managed to produce some 11,000 “street-ready” but essentially race engine-powered cars – more than any other automaker – before the badass high performance era began to die off in the face of skyrocketing insurance costs.
Veteran drag racers Don Garlits and Judy Lilly showed off the new Drag Package cars during the Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver.
But finally, after several boring decades of emphasis on fuel efficiency and safety, the Chrysler/Dodge Race Program has thrust a groping arm from its grave and signaled its intention to clamber out for another lap. Taking the form of a 2009 SRT-8 Challenger, the factory-modified version has been so comprehensively overhauled that it weighs 1,000 lbs. less than the original model. Stripped of body sealer, sound deadeners, undercoating, airbags (as if they’d do much good at 140+ mph), and the whole wire-y jangle of production components and auxiliary systems, it relies instead on fitted composite polycarbonate panels and light weight materials – the sort of stuff that was orbiting the earth in ’68.
For the driveline and chassis, Mopar engineers changed the position of the Hemi engine for improved weight distribution and driveline angle. They added a front suspension cradle with a bolt-in cross-member for quicker access, shortened the wheelbase by 0.5-inch, and added rock-solid engine mounts. Rob Richard, Chrysler’s Director of Parts, Service, Sales and Marketing, says of the Challenger drag-race package,
“This is the first Mopar package car in forty years. We wanna’ make sure that when you buy this vehicle - when you race this vehicle - you feel the heritage, you feel the power, you feel the technology.”
And while that heritage is the last thing any of us needs to feel on the way to Ralph’s for some ice cream, in order for Chrysler to bring the new beast to NHRA-approved drags it will have to build a hundred of them. Since word is they’ll only go for somewhere in the mid-$30,000s, there’s even a chance you or I could own one. Of course, by “you or I” I mean us schlubs who’ll have to decide between keeping our numbers matching ’69 Superbees and buying a car that has no chance of ever being DOT-certified for street driving.
