The 9th Annual Roadkill Nights in Pontiac, Michigan on August 9th and 10th of 2024 (11th total event though). On Friday, Dodge rolled out the new 2024 Dodge Charger 2-door EV in the multiple different trim levels. There is the standard R/T, then it goes up from there in two more stages, each with a 40-horsepower bump.

I think it looks great and can not wait to check out the gas-powered ones coming in 2025. I have heard they are testing some Hurricane I6 engines at levels that surpass even the Demon 170. So, it will be interesting to see what shakes out.

Also on that Friday, Dodge unveiled the lineup of Grudge Match cars. All the influencers were given new Hurricane twin-turbo inline-six engines, and they could put them in any vehicle they wanted (as long as if they were Dodge products). There was a very wide spectrum of contestant vehicles. In the end, Morgan Evans won in her 1987 Dodge D150 Ram Saturday night.

After the Dodge Media unveilings, Tom Bailey and his Sick Magazine ran the “Sick Powerfest” at M1 Concourse, which involved a nice car show and full out burnout contest. Tires were blowing left and right in all sorts of vehicles.

Saturday was the full show too. The Roadkill crew had a 2001 Dodge Ram that they had just taken on a road trip and were cutting the truck up as the day went on. And after a time, they took the truck drag racing to see how much faster (or slower) they went. The awesome part was they did this right on the car show grounds, and David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan were handing out every part they cut/tore/torched off the truck to fans that were standing there following them.

Because of some issues with the town of Pontiac at the last second, the drag racing had to hastily be moved to the back straight away at the M1 Concourse, which has a driving course on the property. The track was nice, other than the little dip about halfway down the 1/8th mile track.

It made for a fun day watching all sorts of vehicles roll their way down the track, including Matt Hagan in his funny car, and Ida Zetterström in her top fuel car doing burnouts down the track. I was right next to the cars when they took off and I have never felt the air hit me so hard!

The cutting up of the Roadkill truck was going very well; they had up until about 5 pm, putting them on or ahead of schedule. They had cut the truck up enough that they had to weld in a roll bar for safety. They had rented a generator that could handle a cheap welder…and it failed.

After trying to get a different welder, then trying to hijack another generator, they finally ended up fixing the original generator. About two hours had elapsed and they were way behind. They welded in the needed safety pieces and immediately took the truck to the strip. In the end, the truck did go faster each time. But you will need to watch the episode to see all the shenanigans.

The cherry on top of the cake though, was after they had rolled back into their little shop area, they just started giving everything away. And I do mean everything! Hundreds of dollars’ worth of tools and supplies!

They would sign something and just hand it out to anyone. Every single person that was there after the race got something. Some got impacts and saws, others got the original welder and even the pop-up tents they were using.

It really blew me away and I know everyone was having a great time. (I know I did!) I went away with a ton of great memories and a few thousand pictures. Because at this rate, it might have been the last one.

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