This isn’t the tortoise versus the hare, I can tell you that much…
If there’s one thing you can absolutely count on other than death and taxes it’s that Mopar and GM guys won’t lose a chance to trash each other. Ben Franklin would’ve totally included that in his famous quote had he been born in the 20th century. That’s why I completely expect arguments to result from the video included with this article, featuring a modern Dodge Charger Scat Pack racing a 1970 Pontiac GTO.
See a Dodge Hellcat race exotic European supercars here.
Adding to the controversy is the fact this is a matchup between an old stalwart and a young gun in the muscle car scene. I know, I know, a lot of people will hate me for calling the modern Charger a muscle car. So there’s another controversial thing. Oh, plus the fact I think these cars racing each other really doesn’t show how far American performance has truly come in the last 50 years.
Another controversial thing about this race is the fact one of the cars has four doors! Hide the kids, lock the doors, and clutch the pearls, because some enthusiasts just can’t accept that any “grocery getter” could be fast. Trust me, adding an extra set of doors doesn’t mean something can’t whip down that track in a hurry, but is this Scat Pack such a vehicle?
Measuring up to a 1970 Pontiac GTO, the car simply called The Judge, might seem almost impossible to some. After all, this thing is a legend, a titan among muscle cars people reference with great reverence. But, like so many legends there’s been some embellishing, whether intentional or not. By today’s performance standards it’s not exactly a land missile. Even though the Ram Air IV 400ci V8 seems impressive, keep in mind it was rated at 370-horsepower and 445 lb.-ft. of torque. Those aren’t bad figures, but these days we have grocery getters with more on tap.
As for the modern Dodge Charger Scat Pack, it’s packing some serious heat with a 6.4-liter V8. That mill produces 485-hp and 475 lb.-ft. of torque. However, the Mopar is a beefy 4,400 lbs. versus just 3,700 lbs. for the GTO, so that’s a disadvantage. Sure, Dodge includes 3.09 gears paired with an 8-speed automatic transmission, which is a pretty slick setup, but will that be enough to sentence The Judge to some humiliation on the track?
Keep in mind the Pontiac has a 4-speed manual transmission, so if the driver isn’t good with a stick he can really screw up the run. And that should be plenty of controversy to get people arguing about this race, along with people mocking it. So now it’s time for you to check it our for yourself.
