SMOKIN' HOT; Is this SEMA concept a glimpse at the Dodge Challenger SRT8?(annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show)(Product/service evaluation)

Byline: ROGER HART

The annual Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas is much like the host city: It celebrates wretched excess. Not that we have anything against 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffets, silicone-enhanced "hostesses'' or 500-hp Honda Civics riding on 20-inch wheels. Trust us, we don't. The trick at SEMA is to find a real gem or two among all the glam. One of the models (the ones with four wheels, that is) that caught our eye at this year's show was the Dodge Challenger Super Stock ("Red, White & Bad,'' Nov. 6, 2006).

Sure, part of it was the see-it-from-a-mile-away Evel Knievel paint job adorning the latest version of the Challenger, the concept version of which was unveiled at last year's Detroit show. But what really got our imagination in gear was the 6.4-liter Hemi under the hood cranking out 525 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque.

So naturally, we asked if we could drive it. Knowing Chrysler rarely builds a show car that isn't a driver, we thought there would be a good chance to slip behind the wheel for some reconnaissance laps. Little did we know that prior to the car showing up in Las Vegas, it got a few shakedown runs by Ron Mancini at Mike Pustelny Racing in Almont, Michigan. MPR has a history of building NHRA Stock and Super Stock cars, as well as Sport Compact drag cars. So when our chance came to be the first journalists to get seat time-at the test track near company headquarters in Auburn Hills, Michigan-there were no restrictions.

In fact, just to make it clear, Ralph Gilles, vice president Jeep/Truck and component design for DCX and the man who had the car built for SEMA, climbed in and was the first to drop the hammer.

Make no mistake, the Challenger Super Stock is one tire-smoking machine. The fuel-injected 392 Hemi crate motor mated to an A999 TorqueFlite transmission with manual valve body and Turbo Action 3800 stall speed converter, easily transforms the 29x10.5 Goodyear Eagle drag slicks into great clouds of smoke.

"This is built to conform with NHRA standards, with a full roll cage, fuel cell, all the safety stuff,'' Gilles said.