Factory Stock Dodge Challenger Hellcat Runs a 10-Second 1/4-mile

In case you missed our piece last week, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat owned and driven by Jay Gustafson was able to run an 11.08 ¼ mile time at Cecil County Dragstrip last weekend in 100% stock form, including the stock Pirelli tires. That was the first proof of an 11.0 run that I had seen, presumably making Jay’s Challenger the quickest factory stock Hellcat car in the world.

Shortly after publishing that piece, a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat owner named Patrick Lannoo came forward with proof of his stock-tire super sedan running an 11.07 – making his Hellcat car the quickest on record on 100% stock form.

Well, not to be outdone, Jay Gustafson and his Plum Crazy Hellcat Challenger headed back to the track this weekend with the hopes of taking advantage of the cool air to be the first into the 10-second range in fully stock form…and he did just that.

Stock 10s in a Hellcat Challenger
We feature a great many Dodge Hellcat Challengers and Chargers here on TorqueNews that run incredible ¼ mile times, but in almost every other case – those cars have been modified in some way. Even if only something as simple as stickier tires and a stronger driveshaft has been added, all of the Hellcat cars that we have featured which have run at least a 10-second ¼ mile have had some component that did not come off of the assembly line.

Until now.

When Jay Gustafson ran his 11.08 at Cecil two Saturdays ago, he knew that the track would be open at least one more Saturday and he believed very strongly that he could get into the 10s with the stock tires. He told me that when we spoke about his 11.08 run, so when he went to the track this past weekend, he kept me posted on how the day was going.

When one of his early runs yielded an 11.03, he sent me a picture of the timeslip and reiterated that he expected to get into the 10s, but when he wrote me again an hour or so later with a picture of an 11.02 slip, he was concerned that his stock tires might only have a run or two left in them. He was also concerned that his aging tires and the cold weather might team up to prevent him from getting into the 10s, but another hour later, the message that I had been hoping for came through. Jay had gotten his 10-second run with a fully stock Hellcat Challenger.

To be exact, Jay Gustafson ran a 10.997 at 128.87 miles per hour – pulling a 1.80 60-foot time and at the 1/8 mile, he ran a 7.188 at 101.90 miles per hour.

The image above shows one of the rear tires from the record-setting Hellcat Challenger with a few pounds of rubber caked to the quarter panel, along with the record timeslip.

The Hellcat Factory Stock Record
Since publishing my first two articles about the factory stock Hellcat cars in Maryland and California running their 11.08 and 11.07 passes, I have had a few comments from people who claim to have seen a stock Hellcat car run lower 11s and even some 10s. However, those claims came with no proof of any kind and if there are Hellcat owners running lower 10s in factory stock form, they are not active online in any way.

So, until some proof of these quicker Hellcat cars show up online, I believe that Jay Gustafson’s Plum Crazy Dodge Challenger is the quickest 100% factory stock-to-the-tires Hellcat car in the world. If nothing else, Gustafson was the first to break into the 10-second range with a factory stock car and for that, he deserves some serious recognition in the Mopar performance community.

The “bad news” here is that Jay Gustafson believes that his stock Pirelli tires don’t have much left in them, so for next season, he will hit the track with a new set of drag radials and a stronger driveshaft. At that point, we will likely see Jay challenge for the record of the quickest “tires and driveshaft only” car, but with a run of 10.997, Jay Gustafson’s Hellcat Challenger is the quickest factory stock Hellcat car in the world.