Roadkill Update: Your Hellcat Challenger or Charger Could Win You $20k

Last week we brought you the news that the Roadkill Nights by Dodge event, which debuted in Detroit last summer, would be expanding to include an additional event for the 2016 season. That second event is actually the first to take place, with the big day in Kansas City, Kansas planned for June 18th and while we knew that last week, we didn’t know what the prize would be for the winners of the racing portion. Last year, the competitive racing portion was restricted to just Dodge brand vehicles and the winner got a Hellcat Hemi crate engine. This year, they won’t be giving away any engines – but they will be giving the fastest Dodge car in attendance a check for $10,000.

In other words, if you have a very fast Dodge street car, a trip to Kansas City and another to Detroit could net you $20,000 – just for drag racing at a pop-up performance festival held by Dodge.

Drag Racing Rules and Prizes
There will technically be two drag racing programs at each of the Roadkill Nights by Dodge events; one for Dodge cars and one for non-Dodge cars. The rules specify that no trucks are permitted in the Dodge cars class, but it is unclear whether trucks are prohibited from racing altogether, or if they will be grouped in with the non-Dodge cars – although the website does specify “non-Dodge cars”.

In any case, there will be cash prizes for 1st through 4th in the Dodge cars category, with the winner taking home $10,000. The runner-up will win $5,000, the 3rd place car will win $2,500 and the 4th place finished will win $1,500. In the non-Dodge car class, the winner will take home $500 and the runner-up will get $250. The folks who are participating in the non-Dodge car class will likely gripe about the difference in prizes, but those folks should all write the company that built their performance vehicle and ask when their pop-up racing event will be held.

Now, here comes the interesting part. The cars participating in the racing program must all be street cars. They are all required to have valid license plates and registration (no paper plates, no dealer tags, etc) and all of the vehicles must have current insurance that matches the VIN of the vehicle being raced. All vehicles must be driven to the track (no trailering permitted) and all cars must have DOT-approved tires (no slicks) that do not protrude outside of the rear fender. Finally, all vehicles must pass a basic tech inspection and all drivers must have long pants, closed toe shoes and an SA or M 2005 or newer helmet.

With these rules in mind, you have to think that Hellcat cars will be among some of the quickest cars in attendance. While there are plenty of very fast Dodge performance cars, many of them are heavily built race cars that cannot meet all of the requirements. Even in their bone stock form, the Hellcat cars are capable of mid-11 second quarter mile times and when you equip stickier tires – they are solid 10 second cars on the quarter mile. There is no question that they will be tough to beat, but I am excited to see what kind of high performance Dodge cars we see turn out at each of the 2016 Roadkill Nights events with $10,000 on the line – all for a $50 buy-in.