If you are an avid YouTuber watcher, you probably know about Westen Champlin. The self-described “redneck scientist,” auto guru from Kansas, and his buddies are known for rebuilding and fixing trucks, cars, and even semi-trucks. Some of those vehicles we have even covered, like one of his early projects involving a salvaged 2019 Ram 2500 Crew Cab and his 1,500 horsepower HEMI swapped Dodge Charger Pursuit patrol car.
Over the past year and a half, Westen’s YouTube channel has grown to about 1.5 million subscribers catching him a lot of attention. This includes the Dodge//SRT brand, which tapped Westen and four other popular social media automotive stars to build an SRT Hellcat Redeye drag car to compete at Roadkill Nights in Pontiac, Michigan next month.
Dodge//SRT gave Westin, a Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye test car and $10,000 in cash for modifications for the build. There was just two catches, they couldn’t cut the roof off and it has to keep the Hellcat Redeye powertrain.
And if that test car looks familiar, it’s because it is one of the many Dodge Charger Widebody prototypes we saw engineers testing out before the launch of the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody. The SRT wrap was used on several of the cars, including the show car presented at LX Spring Fest 14.
The test cars are usually sent to the crusher after testing is completed since they are not registered for private sale. You might remember, that the Roadkill team took a Charger SRT Hellcat that was headed for the crusher and ripped out its powertrain, electronics, and interior to form their beloved “General Mayhem” 1968 Dodge Charger and another one of those cars was used for their “General Maintenance” build.
But like all builds, there was a bit of a snag. The SRT camo’d Charger has some sort of computer “thing” so Dodge//SRT sent over another 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody tester. This time it was more of a production-spec vehicle and it wasn’t long before Westen and his crew gutted the interior, cutting about 200 lbs. from the total weight of the car.
Not soon after, Westen had the car out at the local drag strip where it was running 12-second passes. Dodge//SRT claims that the 797 horsepower Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Widebody is capable of a quarter-mile elapsed time (ET) of 10.6 seconds @ 129 mph. Of course, that is with a professional driver with lots of seat time behind the wheel and near perfect conditions.
Nevertheless, we can’t wait to see what Westen and the others have in store with their Hellcat Redeyes at Roadkill Nights. The event takes place at M1 Concourse alongside the historic Woodward Ave (M1) on August 14th. For those who can’t attend the event in Pontiac, Michigan, the event will be Livestreamed across Dodge’s social media accounts and here on MoparInsiders.com.
