{"id":72098,"date":"2023-08-08T11:12:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=72098"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:19:45","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:19:45","slug":"radfords-dodge-challenger-srt-demon-drag-racing-program-safe-as-wild-horse-pass-remains-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/showcase\/2023\/08\/radfords-dodge-challenger-srt-demon-drag-racing-program-safe-as-wild-horse-pass-remains-open.html","title":{"rendered":"Radford&#8217;s Dodge Challenger SRT<sup>&reg;<\/sup> Demon Drag Racing Program Safe as Wild Horse Pass Remains Open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>It was announced in early April 2022 that Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park \u2013 formerly Firebird International Raceway \u2013 would close forever in 2023 to make room for a new portion of I-10. Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park is situationed right next to Radford Racing School and for years, the drag strip at Wild Horse Pass has served as the venue for Radford\u2019s drag racing program, which is developed around the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT<sup>\u00ae<\/sup> Demon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"SRT Drag Racing | Earn Your 9-Second License | Radford Racing School\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LnIOjxPVVds?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>With news of Wild Horse Pass closing, it seemed like Radford Racing School might be losing access to a drag strip and that seemingly put the future of the SRT Demon drag racing program in jeopardy. However, Radford Racing School announced last week that their drag racing program would be safe for the foreseeable future, as Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park is not closing later this year, nor being demolished to make room for a highway expansion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are here to stay \u2013 in a big way,\u201d said Pat Velasco, owner of Radford Racing School. \u201cSince adding new courses, including a drag racing class with a 9-second NHRA license option, we\u2019ve had tremendous interest from enthusiasts, pro racers and partners alike.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past few years, many popular, thriving drag strip facilities\naround the United States have closed and been sold off, with the land being\nused for non-motorsports build projects \u2013 including several this year. When it\nwas announced last spring that Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park would close\nsometime during the 2023 calendar year, it came as just another hit to the drag\nracing community. Fortunately, the decision to close the Arizona drag strip\nthis year was reversed and drag racing will continue, both within the Radford\nRacing School program and for normal racing programs that are not related to\nthe school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s significant advantage to training at an established, long-tenured facility like Radford Racing School,\u201d said Velasco. \u201cThree of our instructors, who\u2019ve taught some of the best in the racing business, each just celebrated 25 years at the school. Our permanent location means students can always expect a consistent, high-quality experience year-round \u2013 we are home to drivers who return again and again to progressively hone their skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The news of Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park remaining open will allow\nRadford Racing School to continue offering their Drag Racing and 9-Second\nCertification programs. The Radford Drag Racing program will continue to\nshowcase the 2018 Challenger SRT Demon, but the 2023 Challenger SRT Demon 170\nwill also be joining the fleet, complete with a curriculum that was developed\nfor the 1,025-horsepower Dodge. This will give owners of the 8-second Challenger\na place to learn how to use all of the features and how to handle all of that\npower, helping them to get the most from their monstrous muscle cars.\n\nAside from being big news for the team at Radford Racing School and the\npeople who hope to attend the drag racing program, it is also a great bit of\nnews for the drag racing community as a whole \u2013 as at least one of the tracks\ndestined to be closed this year will continue operating into the future.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It was announced in early April 2022 that Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park \u2013 formerly Firebird International Raceway \u2013 would close forever in 2023 to make room for a new portion of I-10. Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park is situationed right next to Radford Racing School and for years, the drag strip at Wild Horse Pass has served as the venue for Radford\u2019s drag racing program, which is developed around the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT\u00ae Demon. With news of Wild Horse Pass closing, it seemed like Radford Racing School might [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":72096,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[638],"tags":[2976],"class_list":["post-72098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-showcase","tag-radford"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/WildhorseMotorsportsPark_Feature.jpg","social_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/WildhorseMotorsportsPark_Social.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\/72098"}],"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\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72098"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":72104,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72098\/revisions\/72104"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}