Extreme Dodge Challenger in the works

Published April 02, 2013 FoxNews.com

The racetrack ready, 500 hp Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 stole the headlines at the New York Auto Show, but it may have some new competition on the way.

The head of Chrysler’s SRT performance division, Ralph Gilles, told FoxNews.com at the show that an extreme version of its Challenger coupe is in the works.

“We get a lot of requests for the Challenger, not so much the Charger, and we’ve been looking at doing an ACR [American Club Racing] edition of that, eventually,” he said. “So we’ll see something along those lines in a couple of years.”

The currently out of production Dodge (now SRT) Viper ACR was about as close as you can get to a street legal racing car, with modifications including nearly slick tires, an adjustable suspension and huge rear wing. A Challenger carrying that name would have to live up to its reputation.

Gilles didn’t say exactly what was being considered for the car, but the V10 from the Viper fits under the Challenger’s hood and the 470 hp 6.4-liter Hemi V8 found in the Challenger SRT8 392 can easily be tuned for even more power, so the sky’s the limit.

Of course both GM and Chrysler could be in for an even tougher challenge this time next year when Ford is expected to unveil the all-new next generation Mustang, which started this whole track-ready thing with the recently available Boss 302 Laguna Seca edition.

Will there ever be peace in the muscle car wars?

We doubt it.