Dodge has been delivering the first examples of the 2023 Challenger SRT^® Demon 170 over the course of the past few weeks and a handful of owners have already gotten their cars to the track – with impressive results for drivers with no seat time in a brand-new car. In fact, just a few days after receiving his SRT Demon 170, Timothy Mikoliczyk completed the break-in process and headed to Rockingham Dragway for Mopar_®s at the Rock, getting down to a 9.50 quarter-mile with just a few passes to learn the features of the car.

©️SERoss-Godbee for Legion of Demons Racing

“I took possession of my Demon 170 on November 15th, 2023,” said Mikoliczyk. “The dealership, Southern Dodge Greenbrier, called me on November 14th at 4:11pm saying my car was to arrive the next day between 10am-2pm and they’d FaceTime me. Joe Cuellar (the General Manager at Southern) FaceTimed me on Wednesday the 15th at 11:50am. I arrived at 12:12pm took the initial pictures and walk-around video. Someone asked if I was going to drive it home. I said to the employees that had gathered (sales and service) that not only was I going to drive it off the lot, but my grandson was going to be the first to ride. Yes, a child seat was installed for him! Someone else asked if I intended to take it to the drag strip?! I said absolutely and as a matter of fact, it would be at Mopars at the Rock that Saturday the 18th.”

“Did the PDI with the service technician myself. Told them not to even wash the car! Did the paperwork, installed the child seat and loaded my grandson in the back seat. My salesman, Winfred Tony, hopped in the passenger front seat, myself in the driver’s seat and we went for the first ride and to fill the tank with fuel,” continued Mikoliczyk.

After receiving his car on Wednesday, November 16th, Mikoliczyk drove his SRT Demon 170 to work on Thursday and Friday, adding about 100 miles each day as he worked to complete the break-in process. During the 250-mile drive to Rockingham Dragway on Saturday, November 18th, he completed the break-in mileage of his car, unlocking all of the track-focused features of the SRT Demon 170.

“Woke up Saturday morning at 3am to head to Rockingham 250 miles from my house,” said Mikoliczyk. The car showed 9% ethanol when I fueled up with premium. E85 isn’t available at the pump in my local area, so I stopped at a Sheets on the way and filled up with 7.9 gallons of what Sheets calls Flex Fuel 51-83% ethanol. I hoped to find more pump ethanol on the way to the track to no avail. Drove the car spiritedly to have room to top it off with more ethanol.”

That mix of Sheets Flex Fuel raised the ethanol content level to 35%, and when the computer system detected an increased level of ethanol, it began to ramp up the power level. When he arrived at the track, the car was making 956 horsepower, per the on-board system.

With that power level, he went from the street to the staging lanes to the track, making his first shakedown pass without the TransBrake, using the same tire pressure on which he had just driven 250 miles. Unfortunately, even with a light launch, the highway tire pressure was too much and he spun the tires hard on the launch. After that run, he lowered the rear tire pressure to 21psi, but still spun the tires hard, so he dropped them further, to 18psi. He was still spinning the tires a bit at that pressure, but he was down into the 10-second range.

At that point, Mikoliczyk talked to Byron Godbee (both shown above), who runs the Legion of Demons organization and who has made many, many 9-second runs with his 2018 SRT Demon. The two played with the SRT Demon 170 TransBrake feature a bit and headed out for another pass. Using the TransBrake set to launch at 1,600 rpm with the launch torque levels set to just 650 lb-ft, and with the tires at 18psi, Mikoliczyk ran a 9.91 at 139.71 miles per hour with a 1.54 60-foot time. He was still having traction issues, so Godbee offered to let Mikoliczyk make a few passes with his Billet Specialty wheels, with the rear wrapped in Hoosier drag radials. Also, while changing the wheels, a handful of modern Mopar racers stopped by to check out the SRT Demon 170, including Brian Moore. Moore offered to let Mikoliczyk add 6 gallons of Ignite E90 to the fuel mix and he happily accepted that offer, lifting the E content to 61% while the power level rose to 1,016 horsepower.

The Hoosier drag radials are a bit stickier, allowing him to use more throttle sooner in the run and he had more power thanks to the improved ethanol mixture. On the next pass, he ran a 9.67 at 145.11, but he still “only” had a 1.56 short time while getting a feel for the Hoosier tires.

On his 7^th run of the day, the car really hooked well and Mikoliczyk laid down a 9.5087 at 144.79 miles per hour with a short time of 1.35 seconds. You can watch that run in the video below. As mentioned above, during this run, he only had a 61% ethanol mixture, so he was a touch down on power and he was launching with a fairly low torque output, but he still ran a 9.50 on his first time to the track with his brand-new Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170.

“I believe with more seat time and full power with proper ethanol content, this car will be in the low 9s,” said Mikoliczyk.

Timothy Mikoliczyk’s Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 is a full leather interior car, so it is one of the heavier configurations available. He ordered the full interior because he wants to be able to take his grandson for rides and he went with the red leather in a White Knuckle car because his grandson loved his previous Challenger SRT Hellcat, which was white with red seats.

As mentioned above, this all took place at Rockingham Dragway during their Mopars at the Rock event, and the mere presence of his SRT Demon 170 was a hot topic on social media. For pretty much everyone in attendance, this was the first time to see one of the 1,000-horsepower muscle cars in action and, even for those who went to the debut in Las Vegas, the event at Rockingham offered the first look at an SRT Demon 170 making a clear pass on a well-prepared track. Mikoliczyk and his Challenger put on a great showing for the huge crowd and represented the new model well as the first person to post about making a quarter-mile pass on social media.

As Mopars at the Rock wrapped up, Mikoliczyk swapped back to his stock wheels and tires and headed home, averaging 18.4 miles per gallon with an E61 blend and 1,016 horsepower. No one is buying these cars for their fuel economy, but getting better than 18 miles per gallon is pretty impressive for a car with over 1,000 horsepower that weighs more than 4,000 pounds.

In addition to sharing all of the details on his car and his first day at the track, Timothy Mikoliczyk shared some details about himself. Many people insist that only wealthy collectors and celebrities got a SRT Demon 170, but that is not the case with this owner.

“I’m an autobody collision repair technician by trade. Just a normal guy. Not a business owner or nothing. Just an employee at a busy shop,” said Mikoliczyk. “I’ve always liked Mopars because they weren’t Chevys or Fords. That’s what was mostly in my area, at least until I met a few people. Then the Mopar world opened its doors to me. I’ve never looked back. We’re a different type of person. My very first vehicle was a 1956 Dodge pickup that my father rescued from his father’s farm. Some of my earliest memories were in the garage with my dad while he got the ‘56 on the road for him to drive as daily transportation. I ended up getting to know some local Mopar drag racers such as Todd Norfleet, Kurt Bosh, Ben Sorey, Al Rash, Ed Miller and Richard Tabor in my senior year of high school. Those guys had the HEMI^®s and 440s and made a huge impression on me. Now here I am, one of those guys in my time. Young guys looking up to me with the 870 whp 17 Hellcat Challenger and now the Demon 170. All I can say is what a time to be a part of the Mopar community.”

“A few days before the reveal in Los Vegas, I told myself I’m going to try to get whatever Dodge was going to unveil. The night of the unveiling, I was hooked. Now I have to put in the effort to see if I can find an allocation. I contacted Southern Dodge Greenbrier in Chesapeake, Virginia, early that Monday when the orders opened. Wasn’t able to get much information from sales because they weren’t open yet. I contacted a friend at another local dealership, Butch Hora. He informed me that his dealership had already taken deposits on all their allocations. He also informed me that Southern Dodge had 2 allocations. I called my salesman, Winfred Tony, ( I bought my ’17 Hellcat and ’22 Ram 3500 from him) and he said if you’re serious, you better get here quickly. I drove right over and made my deal. Configured my car with the General Manager Joe Cuellar as follows: White knuckle, red seatbelts, red interior and I wanted the carbon fiber wheels. The wheels were no longer available! Dang, but I have an allocation secured so I can’t complain.”

In addition to his 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170, Mikoliczyk has a fleet of classic Dodge products, including 4 Ramchargers (1987, 1990, 1991 and 1993), a 1970 Coronet 440, a 1970 Coronet Super Bee and a 1955 Dodge pickup.

Video provided by Stacy Miles