New Drag Pak Challenger being announced 11/5 ????

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=xSoe8DxNGR0

Possibly another round of body in white cars with a few different drive train combo's as was done in 2009, including a combo like Leah's? Still a few of those 2009's out there that never got completed as quite a bit of assembly/work required.
Keep thinking maybe a 426 cube 1320 for the 50 year anniversary of the Challenger.......

They are unavailing the new 1000hp Redeye.

WRONG!


Unless of course you are inventing a new word, and mean it like it sort of sounds...

Damn phone...

This is what is being announced:

Well, whatever it is I am sure the infinitely brilliant minds at Mopar will make it affordable to grassroots racers* everywhere!




























































*Mopar's/Pietro's definition of "grassroots racer" is SS/AH

I assume it will be like the 2015. With mo power. I noticed it has a parachute. Don't know what other changes. The 2015 was already spectacular. The Drag Paks are wonderful cars. The reveal is at 4:26 Pacific time today.

If I buy one (and I doubt I will) those black wheels will be gone first day. 22 year old engineers mistakenly think that 40-50 year olds (the target audience for this car) like black wheels just because they do. They don't have a clue.

I'm sure FCA/Mopar will find a way to screw it up like always.

How many of the 2015's are actively being raced??? Maybe five out of the fifty they were supposed to build across the country? Don't count Leah's, Pawuk's, or AJ's either...as they did not start life as actual 2015 Drag Pak cars...

I was told from the best source that they can't get parts for them if you try to race one. And if they made 50 he doesn't know where they are at.

I only recall seeing two...Jonathan Allegrucci's car in D-1, and the late Charles Blossom's car in D-5. Blossom's car has been sitting since he passed away as far as I know. I'm not sure what Joe Welch's car began life as...it may be a real 2015 car also?

09 on ebay for 80k, #83 been on there a long time

YEAH! Those darn whippersnappers and their new fangled black wheels...they should have learned older Mopar crowd doesn't like black wheels after none of the Hellcats...or Demons...or TAs...or 1320s...all which came with black wheels, sit idle on the dealership lots.

/End sarcasm

I'm sure FCA has done plenty of market research, even if they didn't call you.

I guess on my wishlist I hope it has 426 cu in and a 4.0 blower. That would make me happy.

Does not look like it has drag race front or rear tires, but it is hard to see.

Looks like a Demon style hood.

However no side view mirrors kind of say drag race car and the video, even though it is a different car says drag race.

Hopefully its a new Factory Stock Showdown car. The current combo is hanging on by a thread and would not even qualify except for the rule changes during the year.

I am sure they have been around but first car cover I have noticed that you can leave on and drive the car. Windshield uncovers and cooling holes upfront.

Be nice. A man can dream.

Being on the front end of the sales process and related ancillary tasks from the beginning of the program
until 2013, a sense of humor was definitely a requirement the whole time.

As proud as I might be of my association with it, that sense of humor remains intact....because, well....there's always something to have fun with.

I'm as nice as can be Maybe to a fault...

If anyone cares to watch, I think that this is the link. Why doesn't Mopar make this stuff easier to find? Maybe post something on some Mopar sites like this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrBQYpfytIo

Thanks for the link!

Like a 2015 with wheelie bars and parachute. Don't like the graphics as much.

He says they designed it for the grass roots racer...then goes on to say the limited production run of 50 will make it an instant collectors item. Those two statements sound like opposites.

Anyone else think the udders have gone dry?

There is milkin it, THEN THERE IS MILKIN IT!

Found more pics and video, they keep stating it's certified to 7.50 but all the pics I've seen there is no F/C cage? Other that that its cool but way out of my budget. I'm not sure whose grass roots racer budget this will fit?

Hot Rod article says 1500 hp.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1500-hp-mopar-2020-challenger-drag-pak-debuts-sema-2019/

Certainly not for the average racer.

...... on a 9” tire !

But using a TurdBowl 400 trans ...

They're all using TH400s in the supercharged cars. Stronger, cheaper and more aftermarket parts.

The newer cars have a stronger roof structure and have updated cage rules I think. Maybe someone else can clarify?

Maybe it isn't quite apparent yet:
Nobody there in a position of authority knows what a grassroots racer actually is?

To them it's just another buzzword like "Iconic", it means nothing to those who say it but it makes you sound like you know your stuff.

We're now listening to folks talk who only have some sort of a vague idea the Plymouth brand ever existed.

I was a worse critic during my time....

I do think it's great they tapped into the potential of the platform that much further, and wish them nothing but success.

WHAT BLOCK DO THEY USE? AND HOW DOES IT HOLD UP TO THAT MUCH POWER?

RACING IS EXPENSIVE, THERE ARE NO "CHEAP/AFFORDABLE" 7 SEC CARS

GRASSROOTS IS THE 1320 CHALLENGER

Very,very cool!

The 1320 is the only offering around other than the demon that is targeted at drag racing, I think it is awesome. I saw a guy who was obviously very green to drag racing go 11.81 in one this weekend.

I think he forgot to read the part about prospective buyers needing to be independently wealthy or having major sponsorship. "Grass roots", my a$$.

I'm surprised -- and don't know if I should be -- how many of the limited-production late-model Stock Eliminator cars like the COPO Camaros and Drag Pak Challengers can be found for sale in "as delivered" condition and never having been raced. Sounds like a bunch of rich guys bought shiny new toys as "investments" or freaked after they finally understood the cost of running a competitive operation and parked 'em.

I don't believe that. I talked to a guy that pulled the motor out of a 2015 and it made 1050 on the dyno. He said by only retuning the EFI he got it up to 1100. I haven't heard of any real motor improvements for 2020. The 2015 was a masterpiece of an engine. WOW what good times we live in.

That would depend on his age.

What’s really funny is that’s not a new car.

That’s nothing more then the. Old poppa Johns car wrapped... the new cars aren’t done yet.... and they don’t make 1500hp.... jeezus

That’s classic!!

Wasn’t it last year the Hellephant was introduced?

Have any of those actually been built and delivered to customers yet?

Mopar likes to have some big unveiling at SEMA......you know...... the “big show”....... then no follow through of actual said products.



Rounded up to the nearest 500.

So, an old ride, with new makeup and a lot of talk...

I agree but at least they are making a new car and we have 50 more out there.The pluses are there, they are just very minor. I prefer the wishbone to the panhard bar. Racetech seats are top notch. The fuel and PCM controllers are supposed to be easier to work with. Datalogging is a wonderful thing. The parachute and wheelie bars might be good for some classes. So, yes, small changes but good. The minuses (for my personal taste) are less attractive graphics and black wheels. So, all in all, at least we have a 2020 model. I am grateful. Thank You Mopar.

jsta the Chebby boyz !

I thought I remember hearing in the Leah video that the TurdBowl 400 is the only trans that has a aftermarket SFI case

I ordered one yesterday and I’m number 76. I could have been number 74 but I wanted black wheels. Can’t wait to get it.

Kinda sorta. The TH400 has had a million dollars of R&D thrown at it to develop it for drag racing so it was the logical choice. Now ATI has a TH350 case so that may be the new thing. Normally a smaller trans has a tiny bit of less resistance, might be a hundredth of a second quicker, and Stock/Super Stock racers run to it.

I doubt you'll find one factory GM part in those TH400s, just like you won't find one factory part in the 9" rear ends they're running.

Btw guyz ..... how is that trans “legal” in a factory stock class ?

It's original equipment in the car.

Hmmm ... I thought Leah or her crew chief said it was a add on .

What kind of shortcomings are there with the 8 speed Hellcat trans ?

It doesn't have an SFI case for starters. Besides how are you going to hook up a car with 1000+ horsepower and a 4.71 low gear.

4.71 first gear ?

So what is the gearing of the 400?

What’s the gear spread of the 8 speed ?

I think a stock TH400 is a 2.48 low gear. The Mopar 8 speed doesn't have a 1 to 1 high gear. Bad for drag racing.

the more power you have, the less gear you need....ESPECIALLY with small tires. Please don't go into a rant about a mopar trans....lmao

Those Drag Pak cars are using stock gearing ?

No one to one? ... who knows eggZACKlee what the 8 speeds are ?

My rants ? ... well WHAT THE FUGG is next ? Is NHRA going to start allowing NEXT a moder transplant from a MUDstain or CRUMBmaro?

So an LS chevy engine in one as long as it had all aftermarket parts would be ok too?

Good thing for advertising that it was rounded up to the nearest 500, and not simply rounded to the nearest 500...

IIRC, in Mark Pawuk's video interview in 2018, he mentioned his SC Drag Pak having 1200 HP. Hard to imagine there's another 300 +/- HP hiding in the same basic engine combination.

The ford's were very near 1500 at the beginning of the season this year - before they made them slow the blower down - I have no doubt that you can get 1500 out of the current engine package in the hands of a well funded team -. Just wait until next spring when Turk will let the beast loose in his blackbird dragpack at the showdown race he is putting together at beach bend - they intend to break the 7.50 barrier - no rules on blower pulleys it will be an all challenger show

These factory cars are the next pro-stock - much more fun to watch

The Drag Paks come with aftermarket TH400s and 9" rear ends as delivered. The COPOs and CJs come with the same, they're package cars and there's very little stock in FS.
There's a reason those transmissions and rear ends are there, they've had decades of R&D, they're more dependable and aftermarket/billet parts are everywhere.
You could put a Torqueflite in one of those cars, but you'll spend more money, more time working on it and less time racing it.

ya in this vid from last yr @ 16:50 they point out no sfi cases for the 727

I totally agree that this is the "new ProStock"
The catch IMO is it will be very condensed.
Don't see it lasting because of the technology.
I believe it will outrun the NHRA from the angle that the NHRA will over governor it and kill it.
In the meantime LOVE IT!!!!!
Can we group buy PowerBall tickets and buy me one??

On the T400 complaints,back in the day didn't everyone pretty much use 833's/Top Loaders too....... and Dana 60's in other brands?
If you want to go fast,gotta use best piece available. .

Oooops ... 18.40 on the SFI CASE

FS is already the new Pro Stock. Big money, weekly rules changes, endless whining..................

Mind boggling

170-175MPH at 3500#, regardless of brand, they're making some steam.

$250K+ for a competitive car

So there’s a boost limit spec limit now ?

There is a pulley size spec, but not a "boost" spec that I know of. (And of course there is a blower size spec.)

I bet their truck and trailer costs a lot more than that.

Then there’s HI TECH making the blower the most efficient??!!

Probably well into six figures for car, truck and trailer ... then there's multiple car teams.

That’s typical grass roots......... right?

I don't care what they spend on the cars but I think they should have to show up to the track with a 15 year old Dually and an open trailer and a ten speed bike for the pits lol j/k.

If its going to be anywhere near the spotlight(TV) its going to be giant dollars to compete.

When Big Daddy broke the 250 mph barrier he was driving a Dodge dually and had a bumper hitch trailer. A cheap bumper hitch trailer.

Come to an NMCA event - this is classified as sportsman racing - and count the big rigs! Racing at NMCA events has a full range from big rigs to the guy on an open trailer and that about defines the ET range also. You want to play with the fast cars you better have a very deep pocket to be competitive - its a playground for the successful who have an expensive hobby! I have a good friend who races a brand new 2019 COPO - paid into the 6 figures for it - it is a completely turn key race car, combine that with his $250,000 tow rig and that's his hobby. Buying one of these factory race cars is really not much different today than it was in the mid 60's - its just the decimal place moved over a few places.

I show up to NMCA with a 95 dually. But I do have a 16 year old enclosed trailer.
Doug

You're rich. Elizabeth Warren is looking for you.

and you drink beer and ride a bicycle around the pits - You are a true Misfit!

I know I’ll probably get stoned for this but I used to go the the NMCA finals every year at Memphis. Barry Poole would drive His 10 year old Ford pickup down from Canada pulling his open trailer with his stick shift 1968 Cobra Jet Mustang on board. He carried a small tool box and a floor jack and a few spare parts. He came year after year parking in a sea of motor homes and fancy enclosed trailers. Year after year he would go home with all the marbles. It’s hard not to root for the little guy.

I see the guys on Classracer whining about how much it costs to enter an NHRA national event. Last time I was at a divisional with Mike Jeffrey, Mime had about the only single rear wheel truck on the place. I don't think I saw 2 open trailers. Duallies, motorhomes, toters, and stackers seemed to be well represented though.

As my now deceased cousin once said, "It's not the high cost of living, it's the cost of living high".

Aint that the truth!

Gotta ROOT for that Top Fuel team that has rolled into several national events ....ON A RAMP TRUCK !

Most of those high dollar rigs and $90k dually trucks are nothing more than tax write-offs for businesses back home. I always wondered why someone would have so much invested to race in $1200 to win events until I realized you're often racing businesses and not people. Same goes for these $500k to win events with $3k entry fees.

Before that he was towing an open trailer, with Swamp Rat I on it, with a 52 Baby Blue Caddy 4 Dr.

I vaguely recall a story Big Daddy told where he drove his Super Stocker from Florida with his wife to a race in another state, dropped the highway gears out on the floor at a local Dodge dealer for a steeper set, won the event, drove back to the dealer where the gears were still on the floor, and drove back to Florida. What an awesome time to be a racer.

I remember Don Garlits at the Winternationals one year driving a black four door single wheel Dodge pickup that had a mag Dana 60 in the bed, I made a comment about wishing I had one of them and said no you don't, that one is broken and no good
He was pulling a very small enclosed dragster trailer He was a true gentleman and a real racer
Those days are long gone, but not for gotten

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkDpMy7RoF4

sorry if it's a repost.

To all the doubters of hp numbers. How much power do you think it takes to push a 3550 lb car to 7.90s @ 170? Real life, not Wallace calculator numbers.

No one can deny they don’t run great but there is nothing stock about factory stock. From the block up everything has been changed or modified. Go on the factory stock Facebook groups and you will find out the facts

I don’t have any idea what they actually make...... but the moroso chart shows 170@3550 takes 1340hp.

From Wallace

F/S has nothing to do with "stock" anything.

Well, they come from the factory that way. That seems stock to me. Why do you think a stock car is not stock?

Sure, they let you tweak small things like they have for 50 years in Stock.

These are factory drag cars. Like 64's, 65's, 68 Hemi Darts and Barracudas. They are not 318 Challengers. These are factory drag cars. If they go too fast and people are offended I don't know what to say. They are stock cars. They come from the factory that way. They are factory race cars. Like 64's, 65's, 68 Hemi Darts and Barracudas were in their day. They are masterpieces, wonderful, powerful, fast and amazing all at the same time. And I'm proud to be a Mopar guy.

Do you consider the block a small thing.

I'm not talking about things that are happening in NHRA/NMCA. What I'm saying is 2020 Dragpaks are factory race cars, not street cars. The parts on them don't have to be like the parts on other Challengers. Just like Hellcat parts don't have to be the same as R/T parts. These are factory race cars. The block that comes in the car is the stock block.

That's my point, people expect these purpose built race cars to be related to either a production car or a regular Stocker. They have nothing to do with either except they kinda look like a showroom car.

I don't care what they spend on the cars but I think they should have to show up to the track with a 15 year old Dually and an open trailer and a ten speed bike for the pits lol j/k.

I was trying to respond to this above!


Well, when we got our 09 dragpak, nicknamed the low budget dragpak, then the over budget dragpak #53 thanks Zippy for all the help back then, I picked it up at the chassis builder with a 08 V8 4runner(with a mountain bike hanging off the rear window and a 20 foot featherlite open trailer. Then off to Bristol where it won class, #1 qualifier, and best engineered. Quite a race car, over the years its been driven by world champs, myself(not champ), Carey, and my two teenagers. Super safe even at 133 plus through the stripe (with a worn 5.7) with a 18 year old daughter shoeing it.



Sorry to say, I didn't trust Dodge build quality for a truck at the time 2010 , the 4runner is at alive and well at 193,000, been down the track over 1,000 times, won money, and will tow 10,000 lbs with ease to florida and back and likely as good as it was new, but thats another story.

Ran it the spartan way for year one and year two a 10X10 pop up tent with a fan running off the honda gen for the wife at the track......she could play her eletronic piano(too)pianist.....

Then I snagged Bucky Hess's stacker and then a pusher MH which made hotel rooms a thing of the past......still use the mountain bike. And now I bring the dakota for superstock and whatever I feel like for stock. Have a couple of smaller enclosed trailers to replicate the spartan days a 20 foot goldrush and a 24 foot ATC, 20 foot featherlite now reisides with a 2 time world champ.

FYI 09 hemi's came with street level blocks for the 5.7 and the 6.1......the 5.9 on the other hand had the r3 derived magnum race block......

The current dragpaks, copos, and cobrajets are absolute monsters............but if I get to race them in stock eliminator, thats good news, will they go red, will they spin, unless it Fletcher and Cagnazzi, then its competitve......but more fun!

Note: I have put more Copos, Cobrajets, dragpaks, etc on the trailer with the #$@$# Gremlin than anything else, so you don't need to spend a [censored]-ton to play in stock and superstock.



Eric
1883
Stock and Superstock
09 dragpak(run as a10)
dakota gt/td known as the bounding beagle
70 rt/se challenger g/s
77 gremlin t/sa
to be completed roller superstocker, xsuperstocker and modified BIW dart sport 76

Cool story Mr Merryfield, thanks for sharing. I enjoy seeing you on NHRA.TV and DragRacer TV.

Sorry I just caught that, but you're very welcome. I was just doing my job.