- Most powerful Corvette yet faces off with Dodge’s own ultimate Challenger.
- Together they unleash over 2,200 hp and more than 1,900 lb-ft of torque.
- Both races stay tight, but one machine clearly edges ahead and wins each time.
Winning a drag race has long come down to outright power, giant tires, and outright brutality. Today’s most modern Corvette attacks it with turbos, hybrid power, and all-wheel drive trickery. Put the Corvette ZR1X and Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 side by side, and you’re looking at more than 2,200 horsepower and over 1,900 lb-ft of torque between them.
Which one is fastest? After some races at Texas 2K, we know beyond any doubt. These races went down early in the morning, which equates to cooler track temperatures. That didn’t stop either car from hooking up properly, though.
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In the first race, the sheer brute force of the Demon 170 immediately takes center stage. It’s powered by a 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 delivering 1,025 hp and 945 lb-ft on E85, dropping to 900 hp and 810 lb-ft on standard fuel.
Despite sending all that power through just two rear tires, it launches harder than the Corvette ZR1X, which produces a combined 1,250 hp and 828 lb-ft from its 5.5-liter twin-turbo LT7 V8 paired with a front-mounted electric motor.
In fact, it manages to get out to at least a full car-length lead. That’s when things take a turn, though. The Corvette begins to catch the Challenger and does so with so little drama that it’s a bit uncanny. By the end of the race, the Chevrolet has managed an 8.8-second pass while the Demon seems to stagger in with a 9.3-second run.
Let’s take just a moment to bask in the glory that is a hardcore yet factory-built muscle car losing despite running a sub-9.5-second quarter mile. That would’ve been hard to imagine a decade ago. Run two is dramatically closer.
In it, the Dodge once again lurches out to a clear lead at the start. This time, though, the Corvette never trails as much as in the first race. While the Chevy manages to catch and pass the SRT sooner, the race ends with just 0.13 seconds between the two racers, 9.03 to 9.16 in the end.
Neither hit the times or speeds that their respective automakers touted at launch, but let’s be real, these aren’t pro drivers on an ideal track day with teams there to dial in the best performance possible. It’s just more proof that modern cars are truly marvelous in their ability to make everyday folks look like gods behind the wheel.
