page_title: Dodge Challenger
section_title: Racing
hierarchical_section_title: Dodge Challenger / Racing
caption_attribution_description: The 2010 NASCAR w:Nationwide Series new Car of Tomorrow (COT) at a National Motorsports Press Association event. Photo by Ted VanPelt creative commons license.
context_page_description: The Dodge Challenger is the name of three different generations of automobiles produced by American automobile manufacturer Dodge. However, the first use of the Challenger name by Dodge was in 1959 for marketing a "value version" of the full-sized Coronet Silver Challenger.
  From model years 1970 to 1974, the first generation Dodge Challenger pony car was built using the Chrysler E platform in hardtop and convertible body styles sharing major components with the Plymouth Barracuda.
  The second generation, from model years 1978 to 1983, was a badge engineered Mitsubishi Galant Lambda, a coupe version of an economical compact car.
  The third and current generation is a pony car that was introduced in early 2008 originally as a rival to the evolved fifth generation Ford Mustang and the fifth generation Chevrolet Camaro.
context_section_description: The Challenger was introduced to the SCCA Trans Am Series in 1970. Two factory-backed cars were prepared by Ray Caldwell's Autodynamics and driven by Sam Posey and Tony Adamowicz. The No.77 car was built at Autodynamics from a street Challenger T/A that was taken from a local dealer showroom. The No.76 chassis arrived mid-season from Dan Gurney's All-American Racers and was completed by Autodynamics.
  Dodge's early to mid-1970s factory-supported "Kit Car" program for short-track late-model stock car racing offered a choice of Challenger, and a few (less than 12) were made, but in 1974 Dodge ended the Challenger line and they went to the Dodge Dart Sports and Dodge Aspen bodies over a steel-tube chassis.
  Blackforest Motorsports has currently entered a Challenger in the Continental Challenge.
  The Challenger R/T has been used as the Chrysler model for starting in 2010 NASCAR Nationwide Series competition.
  With Dodge officially out of NASCAR at the end of the 2012 season, the remaining cars and racing parts have been bought up by "privateer" racing teams and continue to show up in Nationwide Series during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. J. J. Yeley indicated his two-car team would continue to field a Challenger in the series for as long as he can find parts to keep the cars running. The team stopped after the 2014 season after his No. 93 (later No. 28) regularly ran in the top-20 during races, though the Mike Harmon-owned No. 74 and the Derek White-operated No. 40 qualified and ran Dodges in 2015. Mike Harmon Racing ran a Dodge the entire season and also did so in 2016, and has raced in over half of the 2017 season so far. Likewise, White's MBM Motorsports team fielded the Nos. 13 and 40 as Dodges in some races. MBM continues to field Dodges into 2018 with Timmy Hill in the 66 (was the 13).
  In late 2014 two Challengers fielded by Miller Racing with the support of SRT and Mopar driven by Cameron Lawrence and Joe Stevens started racing in the Trans-Am Series's TA2 class. Both cars used a spec Howe road racing tube chassis with fiberglass bodies. Powered by a Hemi 392 slightly modified for road racing extremes and restricted by class rules, the cars made around 500 horsepower. Except for slightly bulged fenders and large rear wing, the cars look very much like the stock/street version, despite being roughly 7/8s the size of the road car. Lawrence won four of 12 races in the 2015 season, finishing third overall in the Trans Am TA2 championship. 
  Joe Stevens in the No. 11 "Green Car" finished sixth overall after a fourth place at the season finale at Daytona International Speedway. Joe Stevens also received the Cool Shirt Hard Charger award for his excellent rookie season performance. For the 2016 season, the Stevens-Miller Team fielded three Challengers in the TA2 series and ran in 16 events, scoring a few wins. The No. 77 car was painted in a throw-back paint scheme very similar to the 1970 No. 77 car driven by Sam Posey. The No. 12 car occasionally fielded a blue scheme paying tribute to the Plymouth Cuda Trans-Am car driven by Swede Savage.
  In March 2017 the Challenger returned to the TA class in Trans-Am at Sebring after a nearly 40-year absence from Trans-Am's fastest class of racing. It was driven by Jeff Hinkle under the American V8 Road Racing team with John Debenedictis as crew chief. The car was orange and purple with stripes of many of the other challenger colors to celebrate the current stable of streetcars. It is powered by a Penske Engines Mopar R5 / P7 carburated motor producing 855 hp (638 kW). In its debut, it qualified 16th and finished 9th out of a field of 24.
  At all Superbike World Championship races held in the United States, Fiat's Alfa Romeo safety car is replaced with Chrysler's Dodge Challenger.
caption: Early version of the Nationwide Series Challenger R/T
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