The HELLCAT that raced Farmtruck – Did it stand a chance?
One of my favorite parts of Street Outlaws is when Farmtruck and AZN go “fishing”, taking out The Farmtruck or The Dung Beetle to do a little back road boogie against guys they run into around town. Although they play it like the opponents don’t know what they’re up against, it seems unlikely anybody with a reasonably quick car around the 405 doesn’t know exactly what they’re getting into. Regardless of it being “played up” for television or not, it makes for an entertainment angle on the show that’s a lot of fun to watch.
On one episode that aired recently, the duo ran up on a pretty formidable ride, or at least it should have been. They would line up against this modified Hellcat Challenger twice, but traction issues kept the Hellcat from living up to its potential. However, at the recent Demon Owners invitational in Louisiana, the car showed just how quick it really is when the rear tires bite hard, and we have to say, it’s pretty dang impressive.
The car, which rolled off the showroom with 707 horsepower, is now making an estimated 900 ponies to the wheels thanks to a smaller pulley, a little nitrous, upgraded exhaust and a tune, plus a set of slicks out back that help deliver that power to the asphalt. With nearly four-digit power levels and good tires, the car rips off a 9.78 elapsed time at 136.11 MPH, a solid quarter mile performance for a car that’s really only sporting minor mods and, with a wheel swap, should be perfectly comfortable being driven daily, as long as the driver can swing the fuel bill.
It’s hard to say who would win on the track, as we know The Farmtruck and its massive nitrous-fed big block can get it done on the track just as well as it does on the street, but there’s no doubt this Hellcat would give Team FNA all they wanted on the drag strip.