{"id":38403,"date":"2020-05-20T15:00:41","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T19:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=38403"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:47","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:47","slug":"the-mission-chapter-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/showcase\/2020\/05\/the-mission-chapter-3.html","title":{"rendered":"The Mission – Chapter 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Excerpt from Chapter 2:<\/a> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are our Roadkill VIP today and your presence is requested at\n3 p.m. Directions are waiting in Uconnect\u00ae<\/sup> and your helmet is in the trunk. Now\ndrive.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I check my watch. I\u2019d better get moving.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The door slams shut behind me.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My pace is hurried and excited heading back to my SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat\nRedeye, but I stop dead in my tracks when I see\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Girl Scouts. An entire troop. Thin\nMints are my weakness. They were sent here to take me down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep walking, don\u2019t make sudden\nmovements or eye contact and stay downwind. They can smell fear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the safety of the beast, I\nbuckle in for the next leg of my journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drive up Interstate 15\nis … unremarkable in many ways. The wide-open\ndesert tempts me to squeeze into the power, but there are just enough minivans\nand motorhomes to make it a poor choice. I stopped in Primm, Nevada, a town that comes out of the sand as an\noasis of casinos, golf courses and the Ivanpah Dry Lake, where I once went wind\nsailing. Imagine if a go kart and a sailboat had a lovechild, then drive it\nacross the desert. Lunch was better than\nexpected: fried chicken breast on a slice of brioche, topped with an over\nmedium egg and the whole thing covered in country gravy. It’s a good thing the SRT Redeye\u2019s 797\nhorsepower gets my heart racing, because after that, I need some cardio.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I roll into Sin City, I look down\nat my watch … 2:37 p.m. According to the\nnav on my Uconnect system, I\u2019ll get to Fremont Street with 2 minutes to spare\nagainst the 3 p.m. deadline on the invitation. I\u2019m headed to meet the guys from Roadkill<\/i>. Yes, the TV show where they once took a brand-new Dodge Viper on a motocross track (can you feel me rolling my eyes?!).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pass the famous \u201cWelcome To Las\nVegas\u201d sign.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are sightseeing helicopters at a\nprivate part of the airport to my right. The light turns green and I dip into the throttle to hear that glorious HEMI\u00ae<\/sup>\nengine echo off the skyscrapers along Las Vegas Boulevard.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After passing that TV famous pawn\nshop, I roll up to Fremont Street, looking up at the archway of lights that\nmake this part of town famous.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight on time. We\u2019ve been getting\nready for you. I\u2019m David, this is Mike.\u201d\nFreiburger extends a hand, and I look around and ask, \u201cSo what in the world am\nI doing here?\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I see it against the curb, right\nnext to a street performer in a questionable outfit … \u201cThat\u2019s Vanishing\nPaint!\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanishing Paint is their play on\nwords, based on the movie Vanishing Point<\/i> that features a 1970 Challenger\nR\/T. These guys took an old \u201870 that sat\nfor a couple decades, gave it a Roadkill<\/i>-style rebuild and got it running with a\n360-cubic-inch engine, slapstick shifter, sticky tires and suspension, and big\nbrakes. But they left the sun beaten\npatina. They had to. Maybe you saw the video where they took it to an autocross?\nThis is one of the best cars they\u2019ve ever built on the show.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYep,\u201d says Finnegan. \u201cAnd you\u2019re going\nto race against it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In typical Roadkill<\/i> fashion, they\u2019ve\nmanaged to get the entire Fremont Street experience shut down and cleared for\nus. The pedestrian mall is covered in\nthe world\u2019s largest video screen, that stretches for four blocks, or more\nimportantly for us, 1,375 feet. Exactly\na quarter-mile long … plus 55 feet.\nFreiburger gives me the details. \u201cWe\u2019re going to see which one of these\nis faster: your brand-new factory-fresh Challenger or the one we put together\nwith spare parts and dreams.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crew is setting up cameras along\nthe street and in the cars, rigging lights everywhere. Then, the makeup woman\nthrows a more-than-generous dab of powder on my forehead. \u201cWhat\u2019s that for?\u201d I ask. <\/p>\n

\u201cAre you nervous?” she asks. “Your forehead is shiny … bad for TV.\u201d  <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNervous? I\u2019m about to race in the\nmiddle of a shutdown stretch of Vegas against the Roadkill<\/i> guys for TV. You\u2019re\ngonna need more powder.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We line up at Glitter Gulch. I\u2019m in the right lane in my Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat\nRedeye. Finnegan is in the left, behind the wheel of Vanishing Paint. Freiburger stands between us holding a shop\nrag – a middle-aged-guy version of a woman jumping in the air, waving a\nhandkerchief to start old timey races. My palms are sweating … I wonder if my forehead is still shiny on\ncamera? David points at Mike, Mike nods\nthat he\u2019s ready and revs the 360. David\npoints at me, I raise my index finger saying that I\u2019m also ready … even though I\u2019m not. Here goes nothing. I can see him talking. I\u2019m sure it\u2019s\nsomething funny, but I can\u2019t hear him over the sound of the SRT Hellcat Redeye in\nLaunch Control mode.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inhale.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhale.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concentrate on the shop rag. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GO!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hit the gas and immediately spin the\nrear tires. \u201cRookie mistake!\u201d I yell at\nmyself, gently rolling the throttle back to get some grip in my rear\ntires. Back to the throttle, but I can\nhear that nearly unmuffled 360 next to me.\nFinnegan is a legit wheelman and he knows that Challenger well … he\u2019s\ngot a fender on me. We pass that Detroit-themed casino with my foot to the\nfloor. Mental note: I can get a proper\nMotor City-style coney dog in there.\nFocus, FOCUS! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Side by side, we accelerate, but I\u2019m\nstarting to pull ahead. Finnegan only\nhas 3 gears in his 50-year-old muscle car, while I have EIGHT to keep that\nsupercharged HEMI engine in its power band. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I surge ahead. Past the tattoo joint,\nthen the BBQ place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see the finish line, is this really\nhappening?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Am I going to WIN?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All 12.5 million LEDs on Fremont\nStreet light up as I blast across the stripe. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VICTORY!!!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I breathe for the first time in\nseveral blocks. Jumping out of the car,\nFinnegan comes over to shake my hand.\nFreiburger asks how it went and all I can think is to ask the camera\ncrew, \u201cDid you get that on film???!!!\u201d We\nlaugh a bunch and spend the rest of the night telling car stories in the glow\nof the neon lights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What. A. Trip. I still have to make it\nall the way to New York. If this is how it\u2019s going to be the whole way, I\u2019d\nbetter get some sleep. But I\u2019m in Las Vegas! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I walk into my hotel room, the room\nphone is ringing. \u201cYes, hello?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Kimberly from the front desk. Turn\nyour TV to Channel 50,\u201d and she hangs up.<\/p>\n

I fumble for the remote and click over. A video of today\u2019s race is\nplaying with a deep voice talking over the footage. <\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongratulations on your win. Don\u2019t spend all night celebrating in the\ncasino, you need to get some rest.\nWheels up at 7 a.m.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yikes, that\u2019s early. Well, one round\nat the tables couldn\u2019t hurt, right? I take a quick shower and decide to make my\nway downstairs. When the elevator doors open, I see\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Excerpt from Chapter 2: \u201cYou are our Roadkill VIP today and your presence is requested at 3 p.m. Directions are waiting in Uconnect\u00ae and your helmet is in the trunk. Now drive.\u201d What the? I check my watch. I\u2019d better get moving. The door slams shut behind me. My pace is hurried and excited heading back to my SRT\u00ae Hellcat Redeye, but I stop dead in my tracks when I see\u2026 Girl Scouts. An entire troop. Thin Mints are my weakness. They were sent here to take me down. Keep […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":38405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showcase"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/The-Mission-Chapter-3.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38403"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38403"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38426,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38403\/revisions\/38426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}