{"id":27553,"date":"2021-06-29T09:34:32","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T13:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=27553"},"modified":"2021-06-29T09:34:32","modified_gmt":"2021-06-29T13:34:32","slug":"roadkill-nights-is-back-to-kick-off-dream-cruise-week-with-legal-woodward-drag-racing-drifting-grudge-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/roadkill-nights-is-back-to-kick-off-dream-cruise-week-with-legal-woodward-drag-racing-drifting-grudge-match","title":{"rendered":"Roadkill Nights is back to kick off Dream Cruise week with legal Woodward drag racing, drifting, Grudge Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

Drivers, start your engines.<\/p>\n

After a year off during the coronavirus pandemic, Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge is back to kick off Woodward Dream Cruise week\u00a0Aug.\u00a013-14. Presented by Motor Trend, the sixth annual event will feature drag racing on 1\/8-mile stretch of Woodward public road in Pontiac with big horsepower, street-legal dragsters vying for a $10,000 prize in front of packed stands.<\/p>\n

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

Spicing the menu this year will be a Grudge Match. Dodge is handing out $10k each to a select group of four popular online muscle-car\u00a0celebrities and “Fastest Cars in the Dirty South” TV host Eric Malone\u00a0to modify a Dodge Hellcat. No rules. Fastest cat wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing the sixth year, we want to make sure we did something different,\u201d said Dodge chief motorhead Tim Kuniskis in an interview. \u201cThe big change this year is that we are going to have\u00a0the Hellcat Grudge Match. Who’s faster? Who’s more legit? Is it the TV builder’s racers\u00a0or is it the online guys? This probably is as hotly debated as professional wrestling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dodge is the pro wrestling brand of autodom \u2014 the \u201cPeople magazine of the industry\u201d as Kuniskis likes to put it \u2014 and Roadkill Nights is the brand\u2019s biggest stage. It\u2019s a chance to show off its high-powered V-8 muscle cars in their natural habitat\u00a0and host maybe the only street-legal drag race in the United States.<\/p>\n

For the 2021 model year, Dodge offers an insane, Hellcat-powered, 700-plus-horsepower SRT version for every model in its lineup: the 807-horsepower Challenger SRT Super Stock, 797-horsepower Charger SRT Redeye sedan, and 710-horse\u00a0Durango SRT Hellcat. All told, they boast more ponies than any other American brand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re all about having fun doing burnouts, and just enjoying our muscle cars and the lifestyle that goes along with (it),\u201d said Kuniskis. \u201cThis is\u00a0not (just) a Dodge event, this is\u00a0open to the entire industry \u2014\u00a0anybody that loves fast cars. We want everybody to experience this thing that we call the Brotherhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brothers and sisters will be entertained by 120 invitation-only drag racers on Woodward as well as by interactive experiences at the adjacent M1 Concourse’s Champion Motor Speedway\u00a0and car club. Experiences like tire-smoking drift rides in Challenger and Charger Hellcats, race simulators, classic and modern muscle car shows, dyno testing, food trucks, and more.<\/p>\n

One fan favorite that will not return this year: the Mopar NHRA drag racers piloted by Leah Pruett\u00a0and Matt Hagan. The dynamic duo wowed fans in years past\u00a0with explosive, nitro-fueled hole shots down Woodward in their Slingshot and Funny Car Dodge dragsters.<\/p>\n

The Roadkill circus will be streamed by MotorTrend live with a one-hour “Roadkill Showdown Special” capturing the highlights for\u00a0MotorTrend TV. MotorTrend TV and online personalities David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan will host.<\/p>\n

\u201cWoodward Avenue is the sketchiest place to go drag racing\u00a0thing I’ve ever seen,\u201d laughed Finnegan in an interview. The road has \u201ca crown and a crack in both lanes and (stops) in the action every 20 minutes to wait for a\u00a0train to go by. This place is magical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDirty South\u201d host Malone will not only be at Roadkill for the first time, but will be competing in the Grudge March.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not gonna\u00a0tell everything. But\u00a0my plan is this car is gonna\u00a0make over 1,000 horsepower,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

COVID restrictions\u00a0in Michigan made the event impossible to pull off last year, and this year was uncertain, said Kuniskis, due to \u201ca lot of hand-wringing in the corner from the attorneys and some other people.\u201d<\/p>\n

So Roadkill organizers reached out to their 13 million-strong\u00a0audience to see if the show should go on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe response was amazing. Actually exceeded our expectations,\u201d said Kuniskis. \u201cOver 95% said \u2018Hell\u00a0yeah, bring it back immediately.\u2019 That was the reinforcement\u00a0that we needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In years past, the event has attracted some 50,0000 people over two days. This year, gates will open Saturday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Drag racing starts at 11 a.m.<\/p>\n