John Hennessey Is Opening Up His Drag Strip To Dodge Demon Owners

While it’s something of a badge of honour that the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is so fast it’s been banned from NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) drag strips, it does leave owners with a quandary. The 840bhp monster isn’t allowed to clock the bonkers fast 9.65sec quarter-mile it’s capable of at any NHRA facility without the addition a roll cage and parachute, so what’s your average Demon buyer to do?

Happily, John Hennessey has the answer. Yep, the same guy behind the company that’s producing a Chevrolet Camaro ‘Exorcist’ Demon rival wants to help, by inviting owners to use the company’s quarter-mile strip at Lonestar Motorsports Park - no cage or parachute required.

In an open letter to FCA passenger cars boss Tim Kuniskis, Hennessey stated that he plans to buy a Demon, but is “disappointed” by the NHRA ban. “While I have personally owned and daily driven a car with a roll cage and parachute, I don’t think that I want to do this to my Demon,” he said.

The only real catch to the track access being offered is that owners will need to attend a one day drag racing school “so that they can become familiar with doing burnouts, setting tire pressures and safely operating their vehicles in a dragstrip environment.” Sounds like a useful experience, and once done, owners will be able to use the quarter-mile run - located near Houston, Texas - “at any public drag racing event or at scheduled private testing days.”

So, as John Hennessey puts it at the end of his open letter, “the Demon has been set free.”