Letting the big car go and 1320........

Lots of thought lately about selling my Challenger and buying a 1320, I am in a position that I can buy a 1320 outright and keep the Challenger but just not enough time to dedicate to racing my real racecar anymore. Anyone did anything similar? I can take our Vette out on a Wednesday night and have just as much fun running low 13's (it's stock) and the the thought of a 1320 with lineloc, drag radials and trans brake sounds that much better. Would i miss it? absolutely but sometimes there comes a time........

Do we know you??? I’ve been thinking of an exit plan myself Keith. Just not quite ready as despite the load of work it’s still “fun” once I get to a track. Unfortunately the “getting there” part seems to be few and too far between. Good luck on your sale. Someone will get a nice proven ride.
Jay

As we get older and our body gets sore it’s harder getting up to go racing. I won’t go the route you are thinking about because the street car screen left me a long long time ago. And if I can still go to the track I want to go faster than those cars can take me without working on them. As long as my son is still racing I would be happy just keeping my fingers greasy. I drive my diesel truck on the street and Moms old 2003 Chevy Malibu I bought from the estate after she passed away and it will hit the 80 mph I drive on the super highways. Good luck with the sale if you decide to part with it.

WTH is a 1320?

A new Challenger bracket car from the factory called the 1320.

Change is good sometimes. It's just an object that God helped us creat. If we become too attached to our cars it becomes idolatry. I feel really good that you enjoyed that car for so many years. And won a lot of races. What ever you decide Keith, just be happy and enjoy yourself. But don't forget to give glory to our Creator.
Jerry Schierholt

I've thought very seriously about selling my Dart and picking up low mileage Hellcat. My Dart isn't difficult or cantankerous to drive but I think it's just time for a change.

Well as most of you guys do, I thought about letting my bracket car go, and just keep the Cuda for double duty street/strip, and build a Factory Five car with a Hellcrate in it. Been eye-balling their 33 Phord 3-window streeter. Would be awesome with a Hellcrate....

Or maybe dumping the Hellcrate in the Cuda....I don't get a chance to drive the 605 enough as the weather here has been awefull this year.

I have already had a bad year as my job let go the other week, and I haven't found anything else yet....Hated that job anyways, but it puts a big hold on everything for the moment....2 years ago they closed the plant I worked at and had to find work, now I forced again to find a new job...Totally sucks in NY.

I don't know what the answer is anymore, but it would seem anything newer, car wise, is far more expensive to repair when you do finally wreck somthing on it than the old clunkers we have grown so fond of.

It makes more sense to me to have a dual purpose fast car than a drag only non streetable car.
I am going to finish my challenger and race it a while, and then decide how happy I am with it as a race only car.

Thanks Jerry you built a GREAT car and I feel very privileged to own it and be the keeper since 2003, probably be a while before I do let it go. Waiting for my re-certed belts to come back as I put the mufflers back on it and plan on running some Wednesday nights at Sonoma to see if I can rekindle a bit and find more time to enjoy it before I make my final decision. This year I planned on running Summit series again and try for a 3rd track championship and also get back down to MATS but on Jan 6th I got a call from the Coroner in Wyoming that my dad passed so has been a tough emotional change of plan type year.
Keith

We sorta did that back in December, was planning on selling two cars and buying (ordering) a 1320 but we found a 2016 6 speed Hellcat with almost 2 years of warranty left we decide we needed more, that being said the wife has pretty much taken that car over, they are incredible.

Even though I can’t imagine selling my old heap, that Ive owned since 1981....... and that I haven’t used in about 10 years.

But I did make the decision about 8 years ago that I didn’t really need..... or want..... a car that could only be used as a race car.

So, when it finally gets put back into service...... it will be a “street/strip” car again.

Good luck Keith! I haven't driven my 64 Dodge since my medical issues that started in 2013. We may let it go,but I still want to have something cool. Good luck to you!

As many of you know I had the same struggles. Last pass I made was in 2008. I didn't have the time, energy or extra money to race so I parked my "race car". I couldn't get rid of it, it was part of the family. I ended up de-tuning it some and put a few hundred miles street driving but the fear of anything happening on the street with the "pride and joy" made it so I really picked and chose the days I drove it, and in the end it was not a practical "street car". I owned my car for just about 30 years, but when the hobby is not fun anymore or other life factors get in the way, sometimes it just makes sense to move on. In the end, it's just a car. FWIW About 5 years ago I picked up a Jeep SRT-8. While it's fun to surprise people It might eventually get traded for a supercharged Challenger. Love your cat!

Might wanna research the 1320 more. A stock one at our local track was running 11.40's with a drag radial a week or two ago

The modern muscle is impressive for sure.

ET Finals winner! Time to go get those Nat. and Div. Wally's! Wish I could afford a Redeye or 1320. I don't think you could go wrong with whatever you decide. It's still an original R/T E-body right? It's worth some good coin. Let me know if you go out on Wed. night!

Dual duty Street/race cars rule.

Yes it IS a real "cut up " R/T 440 auto car with Nevada HP VIN affixed so someone can go play street outlaw's if they want. I would love to chase more Nat and Div. wally's for sure but work won't allow it. Thanks Dave!

Exactly same here at our track, been lusting since they revealed them at Denver during The Mopar High Nats last July.

My Son just came home and told me a Friend of ours had his Hellcat Jeep at Keystones test n tune tonight. My son drove it last year and it ran 11.90’s. Well he sent it out for some mods and it ran 10.90’s tonight spinning.

I've been kicking this idea around myself. I could never sell my old car though. I'd just pass it over to my little brother. I was never into this modern muscle stuff until recently then I got "bitten" by the bug. A good friend has a hellcat that runs 9.60's and can drive it everywhere. Air conditioning, a/c and heated seats, big jukebox and it's quiet.

I love my Barracuda, its street and strip and runs 10.50s and can be driven anywhere for the most part. But I would love a 1320, unfortunately I can't balance both the hot rod and a 1320 payment.

I have a lot of respect for the new stuff. Can't deny they handle well, stop well, and are way faster stock then Muscle cars ever were stock, but I just can't get into them, nor would I have a passion for it.

I think about it every day. the dealer close to me has two. I am getting my dart back together so I can sell to get one of them. its just the next logical step as I get older. I have had my dart a very long time, but its time.

Eventually we all face the same type of decision. I am a believer that if something no longer gives you joy then let it go so someone else can enjoy it. Racecars should be fun and when it ceases to be fun, or the economics don't allow for it to be used then sell it and move on to something that can be enjoyed.

If I bought one I would use and abuse it and end up in jail like I should have 40 years ago. And Johnny don't think he would like jail. My ashes are going to be spread at several local dragstrips in the pits so watch where you step.

I want a thimble full of your ashes and give a freshly overhauled hemi a snort of them to seat the rings

Agreed

I agree with John, I can't even afford ONE ticket! I agree with Al and have a tough time justifying keeping mine. It needs a bunch of little stuff to make it right again so I will take my time and fix stuff. I'll decide when I'm done if I want to go racing or sell it. 40K, car and battery charger, turn key.

Just Wow.....does the other makes(GM,Ford) muscle come with the line lock/trans breaks)?

I'm wondering if you could activate the tranny brake before the tree comes down?

I sold my undesirable Mirada for $7500 turnkey... that was two months after some high 9 passes at Famoso. When I sell s##t.... I want it GONE!! I’ll do the same with the SLO KID Duster when the time comes...

seems like a lot to do between pre-stage and stage. Wondering can you manual shift these trans?

You can but I think you would be hard pressed to make it go any faster that way. The only way I see it helping would be leaving in 2nd gear or short shifting to help with traction.

I have a '16 scat pack challenger... it is absolutely amazing. I drive it year round... through the Michigan winters and all (with snow tires).

My little brother ran it last summer and it went 12.01@115mph in the dead middle of the muggy summer on a set of drag radials, so I'm sure in decent weather it's run well into the 11's without issue.

If you're looking for something you can cruise, enjoy, and click off some fun numbers... it's really hard to beat.

That being said... it is a REALLY SH*TTY bracket car. I ran it at monster mopar last year, and an NMCA race. The fly by wire throttle makes it nearly impossible to leave off the bottom bulb, and the consistency from pass to pass because of all the electronics leaves a lot to be desired. The 1320 might be a bit better because of the trans brake on the reaction times, but it's got the same motor as my car, so I can't see it being any more consistent.

I had the exact same thoughts of selling my turbo car, and buying a hellcat to dual purpose... but after making ~75 runs in my scat pack last year there is no way I can see one of these cars competitively bracket racing and going rounds in any sort of serious competition.

But again... if you're just looking for fun, the car is incredible. Comfortable, sounds good, goes good, stops good, turns good... can't deny that.

Do you have a catch can on it? I thought they were unnecessary but have since heard they are needed for consistency run to run as without oil can be dumped into the intake track and mess with sensors changing fueling, ect.

Keith

Not sure if it will let you hit the limiter on shifting. The trans. brake was not explained correctly in the video. PRE-stage, pull both paddles back, bring the R's up and STAGE, let go of the one paddle and take your foot off the brake. Go on yellow...

The new cars are beyond belief. Nobody ever laid in bed at night and dreamed we would have cars like this available to us. Walk into the dealer with a small down payment and drive out with a new supercharged 797 hp Redeye. We are living in a dream world. But having said all that, in a bracket race, no new car has a chance against your current car. It has to do with traction and transbrake. Buy the new car if you like, but go to the track for fun, not to be competitive, they are too hard to drive.

^^^ Agree with Dave, anyone here with any experience using a TB will have no problem bumping in and leaving somewhere between 2-3rd yellow, we all had that TB learning curve. Probably already a high school kid some were working on software to plug in to the OBD2 port that will be able to put adjustable delay in it and race top bulb..... ;-)

We are living the dream...I've posted this before but now seems like a good time...Demon Exorcism

Here the guys with the newer performance cars don't really race them with any regularity. They show up at the test and tunes and grudge night races mostly. They just show up to try out their new computer tune, shifter,, etc and the following week when it's back to the regularly scheduled bracket racing they are nowhere to be found. They are car guys who take their cars down the track sometimes and not necessarily serious drag racers..

There is a Local guy who got a very early hellcat challenger when they came out. It seems he got the benchmark one from chrysler because it ran exactly how they said, 11.30s stock tires and 10.80s on slicks. I saw it run something like 2 or 3 10.88s in a row when it was stock. Pretty impressive especially for something with forced induction.

Get a pedal commander, it will fix that issue in 2 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En8K76-C7sE

I did the same thing year and a half ago, 2016 M-6 Hellcat. Fast, comfortable, kick-ass stereo, and my girlfriend can even drive it. Still have my tube chassis door car, Also bought a dragster over the winter, not gonna race much longer, but want to maybe make some 6 second passes before I hang it up. My son will prolly end up with the race cars. That being said, the HC is the most fun-per-dollar I’ve had yet. Jim.

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Get a pedal commander, it will fix that issue in 2 seconds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En8K76-C7sE [/quote]

The pedal commander simply changes the sensitivity rate of the throttle. Basically tells the PCM you're at 100% throttle when you've only travelled 50% with your foot. This is no different then what you can do with any tuner bumping the throttle % up. But the problem is not there, it's in the PCM itself.

The PCM has quite a few safety and drivability delays built into it. These are NOT parameters that a regular tuner has access too, only an FCA development PCM unit can take these changes.

But even at that... the cars still aren't good enough to foot brake off the bottom bulb unless you're guessing in between lights (or going in way deep).

Pretty good article on them here:
1320

That red challenger is gorgeous. I wish i had bought it. The new challengers are butt ugly. They don’t look sleek like the 70 model does. I don’t care how fast it goes, this red challenger is what brings back memories

I've got about 80 passes and a few races on my 1320 since buying it late in 2021. All of the following comments are "YMMV"...
- Mine has the full upgraded interior and I weigh 200+; I don't recall exactly what it scaled last year, but definitely over 4300
- I'd say mine is basically a 12.0 car that has dipped into the 11.8s under really good conditions... or slowed down into the 12.2s-12.3s when the atmospheric conditions swing to the hot & humid side
- I see where some people post how their "stock" 1320s are busting mid-11s, but also know of folks who have never seen an ET slip faster than 12.x with theirs
- My original expectation was that it would be really consistent since it's "all electronics"... but it will do stuff like mysteriously slow down a tenth & 1 MPH for no apparent reason between passes
- I'd say the grains of water in the air is a big -- possibly the biggest -- predictor or performance with my car, even more so than the basic DA measurements; I've watched the DA fall significantly without any performance improvement because the humidity & water grains went up as the DA fell
- Heat soak hurts the car's consistency, too; I only started putting ice bags on the intake between passes the last time I raced in 2022, although I'm not even sure it helped
- Can't say if it's the car or the driver or both, but some days I've put together a string of decent .0x lights, and other events I swear I'm doing the same thing and can't get under .1x. FWIW, I don't deep stage. On a .500 pro tree, the best RTs I could get were in the .26-.30 range
- Factory-size 275/40R20 drag radials are totally hit and miss; they'll dead-hook or they'll spin & hop cuz the short sidewalls are unforgiving of less-than-ideal track prep; I made the decision to stop using the 20" setup at the track because it's simply too unpredictable
- You'll see it's pretty common for Scat Packs in general, and 1320s in particular, to be using either 18" or 17" rear wheel setups to get a bigger selection of tires with taller sidewalls for more consistent launches; I have alternate wheels with either 305/40R18 or 305/45R18 drag radials to use, instead
- Only a very small percentage of 1320 owners use the trans brake feature cuz the cars seem just as quick off the foot brake and the trans brake procedure is awkward to follow; I never bothered testing it after the general consensus is it's more of a gimmick than a benefit

I still love the car, but IMO it's not an effective bracket racer as delivered. I haven't gone back to the track since the last event I ran in fall 2022. Figured if I wanted to be serious about going rounds that I need to pull my head outta my a$$ and get the '73 back on the road & track, since it's still a legit street/strip car that gets driven to the track.

I bought my 2020 T/A 392 & was going to sell my 68 Charger street strip car but I ended up keeping it, I LOVE the new Challenger, with drag radials 390/40/17 M&H it dead hooked every time 4 passes, had a 14 mph head wind, 1st pass was 11.79 @ 115 was the best, heat soke slowed it down by a tenth, no oil catch can but I deleted the PCV valve system & have two moroso breathers to atmosphere one on each valve cover, other than that it is stock, according to Wallace calculations it would have run about 2 tenths & 2 mph faster without the head wind, I am not so sure about that LOL, did I say I love my new challenger ???? just remembered I did set the REAR camber to 0 so it would plant the tire better, stock it was neg 1.7 in the rear. car is 4445 LBS with me in it.