2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Gets Driven Down the Quarter Mile

Production models of Dodge’s Challenger SRT Demon are making their way to customers as we speak. With 3,300 of the record-shattering quarter mile monster being built, it won’t be long before we start seeing actual production-model drag strip numbers popping up as customers who are willing to do so head to the track to put the ridiculously fun-to-drive car through the paces. And when we say fun to drive, we don’t mean anything but insane, sit-you-back-in-the-seat joy when you drop the hammer.

If you’ll remember, we were invited by Dodge to drive the Demon back in July, where we ripped off a series of passes in the car that, in our opinion, backed up the claims that it’s a legitimate factory-built drag car. While some of the drivers for the other publications on hand struggled to get out of the 11 second zone, I was able to take the car to a best of 10.4 – according to the on-board telemetry – and a pile of 10.5 and 10.6 second elapsed times. Considering the conditions at Lucas Oil Raceway park in July are basically the polar opposite of the conditions at Gainesville Raceway in the winter, it was no surprise that the car was nearly a second slower than the 9.6 second elapsed time that the car ripped off in testing. The difference in temperature alone – some 30 degrees – would make a huge difference in elapsed time. Factor in the humidity and difference in altitude and that explains the difference in numbers.

We weren’t the only ones to lay down a decent number in the car, as you can see in the video below from TheAutoChannel, who tested the car at US131 Dragway in Martin Michigan with almost identical results to those we recorded in Indy. A best ET of 10.5 seconds show that the car is no joke, considering they too were dealing with hot, moist, thin air. We can’t wait to see what these things do somewhere like Sonoma raceway in the cooler part of the winter. Couple the sea-level air with cool temps and plenty of traction and there’s no reason the production Demon won’t be knocking on the mid-9 second door!