cars news 10: 2016 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Update 3: Drag-Racing Fun at Best Driver’s Car

Every year at the tail end of our annual Best Driver’s Competition, we line all the contenders up on a giant runway and drag race ’em. Why? Well, as Angus Mackenzie famously put it, “Because we can.” We call the video that results from this loud and dusty mayhem World’s Greatest Drag Race. Check out all five of the previous WGDRs on our YouTube channel. However, we noticed something in the comments from last year’s WGDR.

Both the Dodge Challenger Hellcat and Dodge Charger Hellcat were new last year and therefore technically eligible to participate not just in Best Driver’s Car but also in the World’s Greatest Drag Race. However, because the cars in WGDR are in fact the cars from BDC and because we didn’t invite either flavor of Hellcat to participate in last year’s BDC, we held a Hellcat-free World’s Greatest Drag Race. Our YouTube commenters noticed. There were dozens and dozens of comments like this: “Can u put a Dodge Charger hellcat in next drag race.”

Fast forward, and, hey now, I’ve got a Dodge Charger Hellcat SRT. For one year, at any rate. Contrary to what you might think or what we might intimate, we actually know the outcome of big multivehicle drag races before we start filming. We also know that 12 vehicles is the limit of what we can drag at one time, not only in terms of track width but also in terms of manpower. Meaning if we wanted the Charger Hellcat to run, we had to cut someone else.

The question then became would the Hellcat be quick enough? The best result we’ve seen with this particular Hellcat is an 11.9-second quarter-mile run at 122.8 mph. That’s hauling the mail for a vehicle that weighs well over 2 tons, but this year’s WGDR competition is particularly fleet. Looking more carefully at the Vbox file, “my” car actually ran an 11.86-second quarter. Digging through the rest of the data, it appears as if there are indeed a handful of competing cars that are slower than the big, red four-door family sedan and its air-conditioned seats.

After shockingly little discussion/argument, we cut the absolute slowest vehicle from the 2016 Best Driver’s Car and let the Charger Hellcat run in its place. Will this pacify the YouTubers? I’m going to say doubtful. Hey, why no Koenigsegg lol? As for how “my” Hellcat finished, you’re going to have to watch the video and find out.

The World’s Greatest Drag Race 6 premieres on September 23 at http://ift.tt/15t2zip. Check back to MotorTrend.com every day the week of Monday September 19 for more on this year’s Best Driver Car competition.

More on our long-term Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat here: