Charles Clark bought his first Mopar_® vehicle when he was 18 years old – a 1969 Chrysler 300 with a 440-cubic-inch big block V8 that he still owns today. That car spawned Clark’s love of big cars with big engines, but in 2017, he had never owned a Dodge muscle car. He had always been a fan of Mopar muscle and he dreamed of owning a classic Charger – preferably a 1968 – so when the modern Dodge Challenger was introduced with HEMI^® engine power, the modern muscle car immediately caught his attention. When the Challenger SRT^® Hellcat was introduced with 707 horsepower, it really piqued Clark’s interest, but he wanted to wait and see how these supercharged HEMI engine-powered vehicles did in the real world.

As time went on, Charles Clark read many stories online about Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat owners making monster power from the supercharged HEMI engine. This brought back memories from his childhood of local hot-rodders building their muscle cars to dominate the street and the track, and Clark knew that he wanted to be a part of this modern horsepower war. He loved the “throwback look and the crazy off-the-line horsepower”, so he began searching for a 2016 model, since it was the second model year, and he wanted a manual transmission model. He found and purchased that car in 2018, adding some simple graphics on the rear quarter panel before sending the car to Tim Holmberg of Holmberg Motorsports – one of the top go-fast shops in the SRT Hellcat community.

At first, Charles Clark had Holmberg Motorsports add a smaller pulley and a mild pump gas tune, leading to wheel horsepower in the mid-700 range. A few years later, Clark came back to Holmberg Motorsports in search of more power, at which point the shop added a Jokerz ported supercharger, a smaller supercharger pulley, ID1050 fuel injectors, an upgraded clutch and a new pump gas tune from Tim Barth tuning. This lifted the output at the wheels into the mid-800s, with Tim Holmberg crediting Tim Barth’s tuning expertise for the jump with this next phase of the build.

“[Tim Barth’s] tuning was the biggest factor in the power jump, as the tuning side of things gained so much ground in just a few short years, and with him having the most experience and proven results is the key factory to why I work exclusively with him to this day,” said Clark.

Phase 3 of Charles Clark’s Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is currently underway at Holmberg Motorsports, and it is far more elaborate than the first two steps. Holmberg has removed the supercharged HEMI engine so that he can install a custom camshaft from AJ Berge at Hemituner Performance, ported cylinder heads from KTRE in East Bethel, Minnesota, American Racing shorty headers, ARP head studs and a new fuel system including ID1300 injectors for ethanol use. Once the engine is built and installed with these new components, Holmberg will once again work with Barth to create a custom engine tune – leading to the greatest output possible from the freshly built supercharged HEMI engine. Once back on the road, Clark’s SRT Hellcat Challenger will pack gobs more power along with offering the classic choppy idle of an old-school muscle car, thanks to the custom camshaft.

The next Dodge muscle car that Charles Clark added to his garage was his stunning 1970 Challenger R/T. While stuck at home during COVID lockdowns in 2020, Clark was thinking about starting a frame-off restoration of his 1969 Chrysler 300, but he realized that a proper rebuild would cost so much money, that for the same amount, he could buy a ready-to-drive muscle car. With that in mind, he began looking for a classic Dodge Charger, but he came across a 1970 Challenger R/T being sold by the Volo Museum and he had to have it.

“I love the color and its a great addition to my Challenger collection,” said Clark. “The car is an absolute head-turner and driving it really feels like history the day it rolled off the line. The car is in immaculate, showroom condition. Green is my favorite color, F8 to be exact, but this is still a beautiful green and not very common.”

This 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T is nearly all-original, but a previous owner removed the stock 727 automatic in favor of a 4-speed manual transmission. The purchase included the original, numbers-matching gearbox, but the swap allows Clark to enjoy the thrill of rowing his own gears. Not surprisingly, in addition to being a ton of fun to drive, this classic Dodge muscle car has won best E-Body at Mopars in the Park and turns heads at every car cruise that he attends.

Finally, in 2021, Charles Clark bought his 2018 Challenger SRT Demon. Seeing as how he has a heavily modified SRT Hellcat, I asked what led him to also buy an SRT Demon.

“It’s a Demon,” said Clark with a laugh. “I had to have one. I kicked myself for not buying one immediately and had kept my eye for one after buying the Hellcat. I dumped so much money into the Hellcat, knowing I should have just bought the Demon in hindsight. The fender flares grew on me over time and the collector’s value is good, I don’t think I could ever lose on it, maybe – only time will tell. I feel like I have a piece of history, like hanging onto a charger with a 426 and hearing all the stories from people that let them go.”

Based on the historical selling prices of the 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, and the current pricing trends at both auctions and private sales, it seems likely that Clark’s investment in the 840-horsepower muscle car will always be a good one – should he ever decide to let it go.

As is the case with Clark’s SRT Hellcat, his Challenger SRT Demon is not stock. Holmberg Motorsports installed a Jokerz ported supercharger with two different pulley options. On the street, Clark runs a 3.35 (stock size) pulley on pump gas with a set of ID1010 injectors and a custom tune from Tim Barth. When it hits the track, the stock pulley comes off and a Barth Tuning Mongoose pulley measuring 3.17 inches goes on, joined by a custom Barth Q16 race fuel tune. This leads to around 17 pounds of boost, allowing this 2018 SRT Demon to run consistent wheels-up 9.20s in the quarter-mile.

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This SRT Demon is running on the stock suspension, stock driveshaft and stock rear differential, with a transmission tune from Barth (using Diablosport software) and a Per4Mance Development DIRS supporting the differential.

Between his heavily modified Challenger SRT Hellcat, his lightly modified Challenger SRT Demon and his factory stock 1970 Challenger R/T, Charles Clark has an incredible trio of Dodge muscle cars that are at home at a car show or a long weekend cruise – with the modern cars being monsters on the track, as well.