A Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Durango Hellcat faced off in Las Vegas, with the unexpected underdog taking the drag race win.
Dodge may have retired the Challenger and Charger Hellcat lineup, but the brand’s supercharged V8 legacy continues to thunder down drag strips. At Las Vegas Speedway, a recent head-to-head matchup reminded fans why the Hellcat badge still carries so much weight.
The showdown paired two unlikely rivals: a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and its SUV sibling, the Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. Both are powered by the familiar 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8, but their roles on the street couldn’t be more different. The Challenger, long a staple of American muscle car culture, was born for quarter-mile dominance. The Durango, on the other hand, is a three-row family hauler with a wild streak — yet it also produces 710 horsepower, enough to make it one of the fastest SUVs ever built.
On paper, most fans would expect the Challenger to have the clear advantage. After all, even the standard Hellcat coupe puts down well over 700 horsepower, with variants like the Demon 170 pushing into four-digit territory. But in this particular matchup, the race didn’t go quite as predicted.
When the lights dropped, both vehicles launched hard, but the final times told the real story. The winner stormed across the finish line in 10.38 seconds at 131.45 mph. The loser trailed by more than two full seconds, clocking a 12.75-second run with a trap speed of 104.73 mph.
For a matchup that many assumed would go to the low-slung Challenger, the surprising outcome proved that Dodge’s high-riding muscle SUV can punch far above its weight.
Even as Dodge pivots to electrification with the new Charger Daytona EV, the sound and fury of the Hellcat V8 remains etched into enthusiast lore — especially when the family-friendly Durango shows it can hang with its muscle-bound sibling.
