Dodge Releases “Behind-The-Scenes” Video On Demon 170 Reveal

During its development, Dodge set a goal of 100 quarter-mile passes for the Demon 170. 

Drag testing is difficult because every pass on the dragstrip is a different surface. The temperature may change. The rubber and the glue on the surface may change. Did you warm the tire up to exactly or close to the same temperature during your burnout? Did you line up cross-track, left, right, in the same spot? And then on top of that, as the driver, am I applying the throttle at the exact same rate to get consistency?” said Jim Wilder, Vehicle Development Manager, Challenger SRT program.

“Being consistent is super, super important,” stated Wilder. “Putting performance out there in a product is one thing, but putting the performance out there in a car that lives is an absolute must. If you can run down the track 10 times and set crazy track times and performance … if that car dies, that’s not a production car. This is a VIN car that’s going to drive to the grocery store.” 

Dodge didn’t hide the fact that there was a lot of heartache with engines breaking during the development of the car.

“You break a lot of eggs making an omelet, right?” added Wilder. “It’s the old saying, and we have. We’ve broken a lot of engines; we’ve broken transmissions; we’ve broken prop shafts; we’ve broken differentials. At the end of the day, we come together, we put all the pieces together, and we end up with the fastest, quickest, most powerful Challenger muscle car in the world, mass-produced car.” 

And while it may seem like the unveiling was nothing more than your average Livestream, there was a lot of work behind the scenes to put the event together. 

Getting the Demon 170 strapped to the helicopter and into the air was a laborious process that took considerable time, but it was finally accomplished. The task involved many steps and required significant effort to ensure the safety and success of the flight, which lasted only a couple of minutes. Helicopter pilot, Neal Jenson needed to be in constant contact with Nellis Air Force Base, as he says, “Their runway is right over there. The problem that (Nellis Air Force Base has) is their planes are taking off or landing, I’m right in their path.”

At the event, Tim Kuniskis, Dodge CEO, said, “There was no way we were going to let this era end quietly. We wanted to go out with a bang, and our goal with the reveal of the Demon 170 was ultimately about celebrating our 13 million-plus fans and giving them pride in ownership.”  

Added Kuniskis about the helicopter reveal with the Demon 170 hovering high above, “I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous when the car was rotating, but you can’t practice something like that; you gotta go ‘no net.’ So, it kind of fits with the car, right?”