{"id":67474,"date":"2022-12-12T09:39:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-12T14:39:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=67474"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:19:57","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:19:57","slug":"how-a-dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-shaped-one-mans-automotive-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/owners-clubs\/2022\/12\/how-a-dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-shaped-one-mans-automotive-passion.html","title":{"rendered":"How a Dodge Challenger SRT®<\/sub> Hellcat Shaped One Man\u2019s Automotive Passion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sumit Goyal was 37 years old when he saw his first Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae<\/sup> Hellcat at a dealership where he had stopped with his brother-in-law, who was there to look at a new Jeep\u00ae<\/sub> vehicle. Goyal had always dreamed of owning some kind of ultra-high-performance car when he was growing up, but at 37, he had never owned any performance vehicles at all. After seeing that Challenger at the dealership, Goyal began looking into the Dodge brand for the first time. He was planning on ordering an SRT 392 when the “Hellcat Pennzoil commercial” caught his eye on television. As Goyal kept seeing that thrilling ad, he found himself growing more drawn to the SRT Hellcat and as a result, he ordered his 2016 B5 Blue Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat in September of 2015. The car arrived on October 17, 2015 and the image below shows Goyal\u2019s family packed into the car for a quick picture shortly after he got it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Seven years later, that Dodge muscle car has transformed Goyal from a guy who had never driven a high-performance car or been to a drag strip to the owner of one of the fastest daily-driven SRT Hellcat Challengers in the country and one of the men behind a popular aftermarket upgrade in the SRT Hellcat community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The B5 Blue SRT Hellcat Challenger<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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When Sumit Goyal bought his 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, he had never driven anything that packed the power of the supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine and he literally didn\u2019t know that the sport of organized drag racing existed. He bought the car as a weekend cruiser and his B5 Blue Dodge served that role well, but it didn\u2019t take long for him to end up at the drag strip. When he bought the Challenger, Goyal began participating in online SRT Hellcat communities and through them, he met some owners in his area who were heading to Atlanta Dragway. Goyal headed to the track one day to meet those online friends and to watch them race, but they talked him into registering to race, as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Goyal was nervous as he pulled his new Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat into the burnout box for the first time, having only ever seen drag racing online and on television at that point. He mistakenly began his burnout in Reverse and once he got things all straightened out, he ran in the high-11-second range. He wasn\u2019t incredibly quick that first time out, but his first taste of drag racing drew him in and he was instantly hooked. He began regularly drag racing at Atlanta Dragway in addition to some 1\/2-mile high-speed events in his area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Goyal got more involved with the local racing scene, he wanted to go faster, but he has always been a \u201ctake it slow\u201d guy, so rather than jumping into a huge build, he took small steps toward his SRT Hellcat Challenger becoming the beast that it is today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI strongly believe that there is no \u2018cookie cutter\u2019\ndesign and every car is different. Gather your data to see what works for you,\u201d\nsaid Goyal. \u201cI\u2019ve never thought of going all in one shot because I\u2019ve seen that\nbig builds can take time and need a lot of patience. Small, step-by-step\nmodifications can allow for sweet opportunities.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that in mind, he made the modifications needed to run consistently in the low-10-second range, which led to some impressive success in the drag racing world. He attended the 2016 Southern Super Heavy shootout at Atlanta Dragway, having never participated in an event before, and he went on to win his class. As time went on, Goyal built his Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat to run in the low-8-second range, leading to more strong finishes at major racing events. He finished second in the Modern Street HEMI Shootout Outlaw class when the series stopped at No Problem Dragway in 2019 and in 2021, Goyal won the Factory Forced Induction class at the Diablosport Horsepower Wars event in Orlando. When he won that class, he got to face NHRA Top Fuel driver Leah Pruett in a Challenger that had been provided for her to compete in by Diablosport, and in that match race, Goyal beat the popular pro drag racer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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