The Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge Grudge Match program has changed each year and for 2024, competitors were required to build their vehicle around the new Hurricane twin turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine. This engine is currently offered in the Ram 1500 and the Jeep® Wagoneer/Grand Wagoneer line, but it will soon be offered in the Dodge Charger Six Pack. Grudge Match competitors could use any Dodge or Plymouth vehicle, but it had to be powered by the provided Hurricane engine.
The initial field of Grudge Match vehicles consisted of a 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT® Demon driven by Garrett Reed, a Sam Hubinette 2009 Dodge Challenger drift car with no body panels driven by Herman “Demonology” Young, a 1970 Plymouth Road Runner driven by Westen Champlin, a 1999 Dodge Dakota driven by Allison Kovalik, a 1987 Dodge D150 driven by Morgan Evans and a 2001 Dodge Ramcharger driven by Tom Bailey.
A seventh vehicle was added as we got closer to the event – a Dodge Hornet driven by Mike Musto. It was certainly a diverse crowd, but all of these vehicles headed into the 2024 Roadkill Nights Grudge Match program with a Hurricane engine, an 8-speed automatic transmission and high hopes of winning at the unique automotive festival.
Unfortunately, Tom Bailey’s Mexican Ramcharger broke a driveshaft while doing a burnout the night before the event, knocking him out of the competition. On the day of the competition, Westen Champlin and Mike Musto both destroyed a driveshaft on the big end, taking them out of the shootout as well. As a result, only Reed, Young, Kovalik and Evans would head into the elimination rounds.
The first round of the 2024 Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge Grudge Match saw the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon driven by Garrett Reed take on the 1999 Dodge Dakota driven by Allison Kovalik, while Herman Young in the “Challenger Kart” would take on the 1987 Dodge D150 driven by Morgan Evans.
In the race between Young in the bodyless Challenger drift car and Evans in the first-generation Dodge pickup, Demonology appeared to have the race well in hand, but then he got a little loose near the finish line and came across the center line. After quite a bit of deliberation by the event officials, Young was disqualified and Morgan Evans was awarded the win in her D150.
In the second race of the first round, Reed and the SRT Demon with the turbos sticking up in the air above the engine lined up with Kovalik and her race-ready Dakota. Reed got a big lead on the arm drop, and although it appeared as though the pickup was closing as they headed down track, Kovalik didn’t have enough space to reel in Reed.
The 2024 Roadkill Nights Grudge Match final round saw the 1987 Dodge D150 of Morgan Evans take on the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon of Garrett Reed. On this run, Evans got the jump on Reed on the start, and that was all she needed to rocket to the win.
For those wondering, the 3.0-liter Hurricane high-output engine in Evans’ D150 was 100% stock as it came from Dodge. It even had the factory air box and paper air filter. The power from that engine is sent to the rear wheels by means of an 8-speed ZF transmission and a Moser-built Mopar® 8 ¾ rear differential, with cooling provided by a Cold Case radiator and fluids provided by Motul. Other key upgrades include Viking coilovers up front and Calvert Racing split mono-leaf springs with Caltracs out back, Wilwood braking components, JEGS SSR Spike wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber, JEGS racing bucket seats, JEGS safety harnesses, an AEM CD7 digital dash and H3R Performance fire safety equipment. Finally, Evans added a safety cage and a custom center console around the shifter that has cup holders for drag-and-drive events. During the event, she also removed the hood to get a little more weight off of the front end of her Dodge truck.
“I took the hood off mainly for cooler inlet air, to save some weight, better the weight distribution. Given that there was zero prep to rely on, I really needed the truck to work. Less weight on the nose means the better it will weight transfer and hook up. I also wanted to show that the engine was completely stock and unmodified.”
We also asked Evans if they had any problems with the truck during the course of the Grudge Match process.
“We didn’t have any issues with the truck at all throughout the entire event. We had the truck done and driving 2 weeks before so we were able to sort out any potential bugs. Prior to the event, I had put about 150 miles on the truck driving it around and getting comfortable in it. Thursday night, we went to Milan Dragway and made probably 10 practice passes; then Saturday, before the official grudge match, we were given 3 test passes on M1 concourse. The truck went A to B flawlessly every time and we even hauled all of our friends and family in the bed back to the pits after every pass,” said Morgan Evans.
“I was so happy and honored to even be a part of Roadkill Nights this year, but then to also win just made all of the blood, sweat, tears, late nights and early mornings so worth it. I can’t wait to continue racing and documenting our adventures with the Hurricane D150.”
Congratulations to Morgan Evans and her team from the Torque n’ Tungsten YouTube channel team on winning the 2024 Roadkill Nights Grudge Match program!
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