There is no more maligned car among gearheads than the Toyota Prius. In serious circles, it’s soft, it’s ugly, it’s slow and it has no redeeming value what so ever. But Toyota has sure sold a ton of them, so there must be fans somewhere. Those fans can rejoice as just recently, a Prius showed up at a drag race and completely SMOKED a Dodge Challenger. And not just any Challenger, but an 840-horsepower Challenger Demon!
How did it do it? Well, there may be more to than a stock engine and a stock electric motor…
Theis Prius was built by American Racing Headers (ARH) and really, all that is stock about the car is the body. It’s an illusion. A trick. Under the hood is nothing like a standard Prius hybrid motor.
ARH completely rebuilt the car with a brand new, 800 hp V-8 engine with all-new electronics, a tricked out, four-link rear suspension and a manual 6-speed transmission. They built it to take on the big boys.
The Challenger Demon is built to crush the 1/4 mile. The Demon can reach speeds over 140 miles on the 1/4 mile and close the distance in under 9.70 seconds. It really is a demon.
It was just no match for the ARH “Priu-STR8”
In this quarter-mile, as the video proves, the Demon was no match for the lowly Prius and for once, Prius owners can be proud for something other than their environmentally-conscious smugness.
