Faux burnout skids trail the V10 Drag Pak Challenger. With only 70 units being offered, the 512ci V10 powertrain allows Dodge's Maximum Wedge motor a choice of NHRA Stock and Super Stock classes.

The real Mopar show didn’t start for me during the Tuesday night press event, but early the next morning. It started with Mopar’s President and CEO, Peitro Gorlier shaking my hand, thanking me for an interview we had done earlier this year. “I wanted a chance to speak my mind,” he smiled brightly behind his fashionable thin-rimmed glasses. “Everybody’s afraid of the European coming in and screwing things up…”

Last year's Mopar catalog advertised a 426, 472, and a 528 Gen II HEMI. Now, you can have a 572. Like all Gen II HEMIs, you can have yours with a single, dual carbs or this aluminum cross ram. Mopar is adamant about keeping the Gen II HEMI, possibly it's most adored and famous icon from its past, very much alive.

Could it be, I thought, that Gorlier got what us diehard Mopar enthusiasts were fearing? Suddenly, the lean little Italian was as true a Mopar lover as I was. He got it.

He smiled again, “…That won’t happen.”

The single-biggest fear that Mopar’s fandom fears is its new owners not really getting Mopar. Mopar is more than just an aftermarket performance parts supplier. Mopar is bigger than that. Somehow its previous handlers failed to really get that. There have been Chryslers, Dodges and Plymouths lacking that soul. If you get it too, you’ll know which ones have it and which ones don’t.

Mopar is the spirit behind these cars. Sure, your truck might be “Ford Tough” and your family sedan might be “like a rock,” but your classic Mopar has soul. There’s something to it. A je ne sais quoi. Mopar lovers get it. It’s not just cars. It’s not just brand loyalty. It’s lifestyle. It’s history. It’s legacy. It unites. It brings us who get it together. It’s spiritual. Mopar is the Force.

So there, beneath the flood lights and thrumming speakers, staring at Mr. Gorlier, I felt that he got it. While I know he’s never crawled beneath a ’66 Coronet or dropped the center section out of a 8 3/4 rear, I believed him when he said, “That won’t happen.”

Then I looked around. While not as big or crowded or noisy as Ford or GM’s booth, Mopar’s booth – not Dodge’s or Chrysler’s booth, mind you – showed me that Mopar was in good hands. Let me show you why…

Stationed in each of the booth’s three columns were examples of Mopar’s commitment to hard-hitting Challengers. The newly-minted SRT8 392 HEMI Challenger, touting the once crate-only Gen III 392 sat as a sentinel, welcoming guests. While Chrysler has committed the SRT label to offering more than just “more horsepower,” it’s ultimately the bolded line we all gravitate towards.

In this case, the 392, which is comprised of a stroked and bored deep-skirted cast iron block with cross-bolted mains, CNC-ported aluminum twin-plug heads, and a 4140 forged steel 3.795-inch stroked crank spinning forged 4.055-inch bore pistons, once made 525-horsepower and 490 ft.-lbs. torque in its former crate form. Now, fitted with the latest in Fiat’s engine management technology has reduced the power output to 470hp/470lbs. of torque but is able to shut down four cylinders when cruising over distances.

It wasn't just crate engines that got Mopar enthusiasts' hearts pumping. This lime green '70 'Cuda featured the all-new 650hp 572 HEMI as well as Mopar's custom "572" valve covers, repopped Shaker hood scoop, 1970 Barracuda grille, and large-diameter Magnum rims.

Taking the 392 Gen III from Mopar’s catalog left a vacuum. Rather than just offering a warmed-over version of the same engine, Mopar upped the ante. Making an impressive 540-naturally-aspirated-horsepower and 530 lbs. of torque, Mopar’s all-new all-aluminum 426 HEMI is significantly lighter than its iron-block predecessor while making far more power via a 4-inch stroker crank spinning 11:1 aluminum 4.125-inch-bore slugs attached to H-beam forged rods. Considering that the original street 426 HEMI measured at 4.25-inch bore by a 3.75-inch stroke and was all iron, the new Gen III 426 is the HEMI we’ve all been waiting for.

{ad:AD-Block}

Rock guitarist and noted Mopar enthusiast Kenny Wayne Sheppard brought out his '64 Dodge Super Stock clone touting a Gen III HEMI. The blacked-out Dodge drew onlookers unimpressed by its all-tin interior. The masses of tourists might not appreciate Sheppard's authentic take on the racer, but we Mopar lovers got it and love it.

More important that what the new 426 Gen III said was what it didn’t. It’s mere presence hinted at a future where an all-aluminum 426 HEMI would be available between the fenders of any new Challenger, Charger and – according to Dodge CEO Ralph Gilles, who hinted at it that Tuesday night – a future Chrysler ‘Cuda. Where that the case, any supercharged Bow Tie or Blue Oval might look rather silly compared to a naturally-aspirated 426 making 540 horses.

Mingled with the 392 Challenger were the V10 Drag Pak (as well as last year’s 6.1L-powered Drag Pak) and the Mopar 10 Challenger. Both performance packages drew crowds eager to see what the new specialty vehicles looked like in person. While the Mopar 10 is a great aesthetic package a slight bump in horsepower and cornering prowess wasn’t enough to lure people over like the V10.

I’ve done articles previously on the class-confusing V10 dragster, so I won’t pour into repeating the same details again, but our closer on-hand inspection of the car showed its superiority over last year’s Drag Pak. Namely, it’s turn-key condition, replete with its computer calibration, complete fuel system, 8pt. roll cage, and 6pt. safety harness. Numbered 1-through-70, the V10 Drag Pak is truly a throw back to the Super Stockers of yore.

Returning to my position as an armchair engineer, I can’t fathom why a street legal version of the Drag Pak, whether equipped with a V10, a 540hp Gen III 426 HEMI, a 470hp 392, or even the 379hp 5.7L couldn’t be made available. In Drag Pak trim, the Challenger is astronomically lighter than its civilian cousin, even more so than either entries from Ford or Chevrolet. Even if compromised with all of the expected DOT safety equipment and features, a lightweight Drag Pak-for-the-street Challenger is something people have been clamoring for since the SRT8’s introduction.

Opposite the late model entries was a whole section devoted to vintage Mopar muscle: the cars and engines that birthed the Mopar army. Pushing their Gen II HEMI offerings a little further was the 650-horsepower 572 cross-rammed HEMI. “But wait,” you might be thinking. “The 528 already makes 640hp. How can 44 cubes only earn me 10 more hp?” And you’d be correct.

GMPP’s 572 beast makes 720 horsepower out of the crate, so why on earth couldn’t Mopar’s 572 do likewise? It’s hydraulic roller cam and 10:1 compression is pretty mild when compared to the Chevrolet offering. Fresh off the delivery truck, the Bow Tie has the fabled 4.5″ x 4.5″ HEMI beat, but those wanting to race the iron block, aluminum head 572 need only do a minor cam swap and bump the timing, and await the wrath of one big, angry elephant.

Special edition Challenger, the Mopar 10, was also onhand for the unveiling and permitted enthusiasts to climb all over the black-and-blue coupe.

HEMIs new and old, a variety of performance-tuned Challengers ranging from warmed-over to over-the-top, and some pretty cool “Mopar-ized” trucks, Jeeps, and even a new Durango were overshadowed by two key items: First, Mopar recently waved the green flag on hundreds of new aftermarket manufacturers’ Mopar product lines. If you’ve been able to stomach the 20 pages of SEMA coverage that has not only blown our competition out of the water but covered nearly inch of the week-long show, you’ll have noticed how many companies are offering Mopar-approved equipment.

Even at Mopar’s own booth sat a collection of remanufactured center consoles, shifters and linkage, steering wheels, ram air boots and shrouds, and even an Authentic Restoration Product-licensed 1970 Plymouth Barracuda grille. This of course, was adjacent to a beautifully restored white ’69 R/T Coronet featuring many of Mopar’s new restoration parts and pieces.

Second and final to this editorial, is the RedLine Charger. No resurrected name plate has been argued, debated and debased so much as the returning Dodge Charger. Not the Fiat overlords that people expected the new management to be, Dodge was given free reign to reskin the Charger to something, anything better. While attractive in its own right, the ’05-’10 Chargers were deemed a far, distant similitude of the car’s most popular ancestry, the second generation ’68-’70 Chargers.

In RedLine trim, the new ’11 Charger features a lightweight aluminum hood with a single alcove, which suits the new design exceptionally more naturally than the dual coves on the standard Charger. Additionally, the blacked-out rear taillight valance and single door louver also speak volumes towards’ Dodge’s intention to hearken back to the Gen II Chargers. Even the interior looks like an evolutionary step towards a more retro cabin.

While its not the Charger that the diehards have been pining for, it is a significant step closer. This, accompanied by the return of the 426ci HEMI, the increase in available performance packages for all levels of Challenger, as well as a broader, more widespread aftermarket for vintage and classic Mopars, makes this something to celebrate. It would seem that the people in charger finally get it.

In all honesty, we were all worried there for a minute, Mr. Gorlier. Thanks for showing us that we have nothing to worry about.

{ad:AD-Block}