You may recall that Dodge paid a lot of attention to the “restricted by NHRA” marketing when it launched the 2018 Challenger Demon. Although its quarter-mile elapsed time (ET) of 9.65 seconds at 140 mph was NHRA certified, at the time the association had certain safety requirements (roll cages, window nets, and so on) for cars running 9.99 seconds or faster and/or exceeding 135 mph, equipment that a Demon – at least in its stock form – did not meet. It was entirely possible to make the car NHRA-compliant through modifications.
A few years after the Demon’s launch, the NHRA made changes to its street legal program, allowing certain cars to compete without burdening themselves with all these safety modifications. Now, 2014 and newer cars can go as fast as 9.0 seconds in the quarter-mile (5.65 in the eighth-mile) from a top speed of 150 mph, as long as they are plated, use DOT-approved tires, and have all of their OEM safety systems in working order. Essentially, a stock 2018 Dodge Demon or any post-2014 factory 9-second car can now compete in NHRA street legal events without any modifications.
However, to race the 2023 Challenger Demon 170 on an NHRA-regulated track, you may still need a car-mounted parachute and roll cage. Despite NHRA’s 2022 changes to the above limitations, the Demon 170’s NHRA-certified quarter-mile of 8.91 seconds at 151.17 mph is still considered too fast to compete without mods.
The quarter mile reality of the Demon 170
Sure, the Demon 170’s impressive 0-60 and quarter-mile times make for great marketing, but how far have actual owners/testers pushed the 1,025-horsepower Demon? According to forums like, the tuned 170 has managed to break the eight-second mark Witch. However, if we exclude the one owner who ran 8.89 in his single-seater Demon 170 (discussed below). Thread), and a few others, most of the stock Demon 170s are primarily nine-second cars, at least from whatever information is available online.
We couldn’t find any independent testers running a bone-stock Demon 170 in the 8s. the best he hagerty When it tested the Demon 170 against the Lucid Air Sapphire it managed a 9.72. According to Hagerty’s testing, without a previously prepared surface, the Demon 170 covered the quarter mile in 11.2 seconds. Youtube channel drag time also conducted similar testing, but in none of the runs did the Demon 170 complete the quarter-mile in less than 9 seconds. another youtube channel, RacerXTook a lot of time and effort to replicate Dodge’s 8.91, only to manage a best time of 9.04 after several runs and waiting for the correct density altitude (DA) – pretty good for a near-stock Demon 170, but still far off Dodge’s claims.
If you own a Demon 170 and are concerned about NHRA restrictions, your stock Demon 170’s chances of getting off the track depend entirely on your ability to get the launch perfect and post a sub-9-second run. Perhaps if it had been on a pre-prepared surface under ideal testing conditions, like how Dodge tested it, the ban might have occurred. Still, even an experienced racer like Tom Bailey couldn’t do it during Hargety’s tests, so you shouldn’t worry too much about it.
