{"id":64480,"date":"2022-08-29T14:50:28","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T18:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=64480"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:20:19","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:20:19","slug":"dodge-hemi-challenge-returns-to-the-big-go-for-its-21st-edition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/racing\/2022\/08\/dodge-hemi-challenge-returns-to-the-big-go-for-its-21st-edition.html","title":{"rendered":"Dodge HEMI®<\/sup> Challenge Returns to the ‘Big Go’ for its 21st Edition"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 21st edition of the longest-running, continuous, specialty race in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history, the Dodge HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> Challenge, will take center stage at the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals September 1-2 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The fan-favorite event features heads-up, wheel \/*-standing, side-by-side racing of vintage HEMI-powered 1968 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda \u201cpackage cars\u201d that dominated the NHRA Super Stock (SS\/AH) class for more than five decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Rossi, renowned Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> drag racer, engine builder, development engineer, team owner and innovator, has been named grand marshal as acknowledgement of his contributions in the 1970s, \u201880s and \u201890s to the development of high-performance products in the Dodge family, which includes building and driving a 1970 Challenger R\/T powered by a 440 Six Pack, backed by Direct Connection when the performance brand first launched in 1974, that dominated the Super Stock class for years. Rossi is excited to be called up to lead the parade of iconic HEMI muscle cars along Indianapolis\u2019 fabled return road for this year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so honored to be called upon as grand marshal,\u201d said Rossi, who campaigned one of the original Hurst-built \u201968 HEMI (B029) Barracuda Super Stock cars. \u201cI completely understand the appeal of the Dodge HEMI Challenge. There\u2019s nostalgia there and fans like to see them going fast. It\u2019s just fantastic to have a category that calls these classic muscle cars back out of the garage. I really love that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had an original HEMI \u2018Cuda and took it to the Super Stock (SS\/AA) 1975 NHRA World Finals (Ontario, California) and while I finished runner-up, I was the last standing Mopar and fastest HEMI in the country. I guess I\u2019m now the face of the Direct Connection old guard. I\u2019m happy to see the brand continue with this new generation of clean performance and happy to have Dodge still value their history with the HEMI Challenge and continue to build their legend at the event. My first U.S. Nationals was in 1963 aboard a brand new Plymouth Ramcharger A\/FX (Factory Experimental class similar to the Factory Stock Showdown), the first Mopar to enter the class, and coming here to Indy was just the biggest thrill. As a competitor or a fan, it still has that appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The racing legend, who in addition to his many successes in NHRA also won multiple IMSA championships and Pike\u2019s Peak endurance races, will join Direct Connection spokesperson Chuck Spieser for a question-and-answer session with performance enthusiasts on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 3:30 p.m. at the Dodge\/\/SRT\u00ae<\/sup> and Mopar exhibit in the NHRA\u2019s Manufacturers’ Midway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s Dodge HEMI Challenge victor will be awarded $15,000 and a new-look, custom-made Dodge HEMI Challenge trophy created by Tom Patsis of Cold Hard Art, a local Brownsburg, Indiana-based artist, former NHRA welder-fabricator and winner of the 2021 Netflix competition series \u201cMetal Shop Masters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 20 entrants are expected to vie for the new trophy and bragging rights this year. Among them will be defending winner Steve Comella who had a dominant performance in his HEMI Barracuda driving from No.1 qualifier to the winner\u2019s circle as a follow up to his runner-up finish in 2020. Four-time Dodge HEMI Challenge winner Jim Daniels Jr. (2016-2019) will also be back to compete aboard his vintage HEMI-powered \u201968 Dodge Dart after finishing runner-up to Comella in last year\u2019s close and exciting\u00a0final elimination battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of the legendary staples competing in the long-standing event include the winner of the first Dodge HEMI Challenge, Bucky Hess II (2001), aboard his \u201868 Plymouth Barracuda, Jim Pancake and his \u201868 Dodge Dart, and Joe Teuton at the wheel of his ’68 \u2018Cuda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Dodge HEMI Challenge will be streamed live on NHRA.TV with subscription-based video-on-demand coverage of qualifying on Thursday, Sept. 1, and elimination rounds on Friday, Sept. 2, with highlights of the parade and final eliminations expected to be part of the FS1 qualifying show on Sunday, Sept. 4, from 1 to 3 p.m. ET. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 21st edition of the longest-running, continuous, specialty race in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history, the Dodge HEMI\u00ae Challenge, will take center stage at the 68th annual Dodge Power Brokers U.S. Nationals September 1-2 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The fan-favorite event features heads-up, wheel \/*-standing, side-by-side racing of vintage HEMI-powered 1968 Dodge Dart and Plymouth Barracuda \u201cpackage cars\u201d that dominated the NHRA Super Stock (SS\/AH) class for more than five decades. Paul Rossi, renowned Mopar\u00ae drag racer, engine builder, development engineer, team owner and innovator, has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":64484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[575],"tags":[528,615,2992],"class_list":["post-64480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-racing","tag-drag-racing","tag-nhra","tag-tony-stewart-racing"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/USNationals_Feature.jpg","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64480"}],"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=64480"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64487,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64480\/revisions\/64487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}