Turk’s Challenger will feature power from what is essentially a carbon copy of the aluminum HEMI that motivated his Drag Pak — a factory-built 354 cubic-inch mill that has been overbored to 364 inches and massaged to the nth degree by famed builder Tony Bischoff at BES Racing Engines. It’s topped with a 3.0-liter Whipple supercharger. This package, which has topped out over 1,500 horsepower on the engine dyno and is capable of exceeding 10,000 rpm, pushed Turk’s 3,500-plus-pound Drag Pak into the 7.50s, and this new FX car will tip the scales nearly 1,000 pounds lighter. The end result should run mid-sixes at over 200 mph on a 33×10.5W slick tire.
The class mandates a Holley EFI engine management system and Turk will pair it with factory ignition coils for the spark with an Aeromotive fuel pump to deliver the fuel. A Holley digital display is in the dash, and a Racepak system gathers all of the data. Simpson safety equipment has been used exclusively, including on Turk’s person.
An 8-inch-disc Ram clutch (of a disc count that Turk is keeping close to the vest) and a Liberty five-speed transmission sit behind the HEMI. The power is transferred to an 11-inch Indy Gear Lazarus center section with Strange Engineering axles, and it all rides on RC Components wheels. Santhuff shocks and struts sit on all four corners and help plant the power. Breaud and his team custom-molded all of the carbon-fiber components from scratch and blended them seamlessly with the class-mandated OEM steel roof and quarter panels, creating what looks like a Dodge Challenger right off the showroom floor, save for its racy additions.
