{"id":42480,"date":"2020-09-02T13:30:44","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T17:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=42480"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:19","slug":"2020-edition-of-the-dodge-hemi-challenge-revving-up-at-the-nhra-u-s-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/press-room\/2020\/09\/2020-edition-of-the-dodge-hemi-challenge-revving-up-at-the-nhra-u-s-nationals.html","title":{"rendered":"2020 Edition of the Dodge HEMI<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Challenge Revving Up at the NHRA U.S. Nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The 2020 edition of the upcoming Dodge HEMI<sup>\u00ae<\/sup>Challenge looks to be a memorable one for all the right reasons; a special guest of honor and some record-setting achievements are revving up National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Sportsman class fans.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More than 50 years after the\niconic 1968 HEMI Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas first appeared on the drag\nstrip, loyal racers and fans will once again be able to see the legendary cars\nrace head-to-head in the ever-popular Dodge HEMI Challenge at the 66th annual\nNHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis, Indiana, on Labor\nDay weekend.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The popular Sportsman class\nevent, dedicated to showcasing Super Stock\/A-HEMI (SSAH) competitors powered by\nthe iconic 426 HEMI engine, was first launched in 2001 at \u201cThe Big GO\u201d in Indy\nwith support from FCA brands Mopar<sub>\u00ae<\/sub> and Dodge. The 20th edition of the annual\nDodge HEMI Challenge returns with qualifying scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 3,\nand four rounds of eliminations competition to be contested on Friday, Sept.\n4.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The final shootout will take\nplace Friday evening with the participants vying for the custom-built 42.6 lbs.\nDodge HEMI Challenge trophy crafted with a 426 HEMI cylinder head, a $15,000\nprize to the winner, $1,500 to the runner-up, and cash payouts for semifinal\nand quarterfinal finishers. All competitors will also receive the coveted Dodge\nHEMI Challenge participant decal and event hats.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acclaimed Mopar Super Stock and\nPro Stock racer Herb &#8220;Mr. 4 Speed\u201d McCandless will be the guest of honor\nfor the 2020 edition of the Dodge HEMI Challenge. Prior to the first round of\neliminations, McCandless will lead the parade of participating Darts and\nBarracudas down Indy\u2019s fabled return road aboard his own original 1968 Super\nStock HEMI Dart in celebration of the classic muscle cars that contributed to Mopar\nand Dodge brands\u2019 legendary reputation and success at the drag strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 77-year-old fan favorite was\nthe recipient of the Mopar President\u2019s Award in 2017, honoring him\nfor his racing excellence, his service as a Mopar ambassador and his unwavering\ncommitment to FCA brand and Chrysler, Dodge, and Plymouth vehicles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>McCandless secured his place in\ndrag racing history by driving his Sox &amp; Martin HEMI-powered Plymouth\nDuster to a win against a field of 90 entries vying for 32 spots in the first\nPro Stock competition held in 1970 at the prestigious U.S. Nationals. As part\nof this year\u2019s 50th anniversary celebration of the NHRA Pro Stock category, an\nexact replica of McCandless\u2019 1970 Pro Stock HEMI Duster will be on display at\nthe Mopar Road Show in the manufacturer\u2019s midway throughout the race\nweekend.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A strong field of \u201cpackage\u201d Mopar\nvehicles are expected to compete in the specialty event while showing off\nbeautiful and vibrant paint schemes and wheelstands. Originally commissioned by\nChrysler in 1968, a limited number of Super Stock HEMI Dodge Darts and Plymouth\nBarracudas were built solely to compete on the drag strip just as the\nmodern-day Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak is now. The Dodge HEMI Challenge is\na tribute to those original muscle cars, now too valuable to race, and provides\nan opportunity to showcase today\u2019s Super Stock versions as throwback clones of\nthose historic vehicles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among this year\u2019s expected\nfrontrunners is defending winner, 24-year old Jimmy Daniels, who has not lost a\nsingle round since first taking the wheel of his father Jim Daniels Sr.\u2019s 1968\nDodge Dart in 2016. The younger Daniels comes into this year\u2019s event looking to\nextend two unprecedented win streaks; an incredible 18-0 round win record and\nan unprecedented four consecutive Dodge HEMI Challenge title victories.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 2001 inaugural edition of the\nthen Mopar HEMI Challenge was won by driver Bucky Hess. Other previous winners\ninclude Richard Beshore (2002), Jerry Jenkins (2003), and five-time NHRA Pro\nStock champ, Jeg Coughlin Jr. (2004), Charlie Westcott Sr. (2009), Jim Daniels\nSr. (2010) and Rick Houser (2007 and 2013). Charlie Westcott Jr. is the\nwinningest HEMI Challenge driver with six titles (2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012\nand 2014) to his credit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fans who can\u2019t make it to the 2020 Denso Spark Plugs NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway to watch the Dodge HEMI Challenge in person can catch all the action online via NHRA.TV and its subscription-based, video-on-demand coverage of live racing action throughout the weekend.  The final elimination round of the Dodge HEMI Challenge, as well as highlights from the parade of participating Darts and &#8216;Cudas, will air on FS1 during the qualifying broadcast on Saturday, September 5 at 2:00 p.m. EDT, with a repeat broadcast on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. on FS1. Fans can also look for HEMI Challenge highlights during the NHRA coverage on the FOX national broadcast network on Sunday, September 6 from 1 &#8211; 4 p.m. EDT. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2020 edition of the upcoming Dodge HEMI\u00aeChallenge looks to be a memorable one for all the right reasons; a special guest of honor and some record-setting achievements are revving up National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Sportsman class fans.&nbsp; More than 50 years after the iconic 1968 HEMI Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas first appeared on the drag strip, loyal racers and fans will once again be able to see the legendary cars race head-to-head in the ever-popular Dodge HEMI Challenge at the 66th annual NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":42490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2627],"tags":[528,615],"class_list":["post-42480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-room","tag-drag-racing","tag-nhra"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/feature-1.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\/42480"}],"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=42480"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59063,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42480\/revisions\/59063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}