Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge held its eighth chapter this past weekend at a new location in downtown Pontiac, with a nicer section of road for the legal street racing program. In addition to all of the racing on Woodward Avenue, Roadkill Nights featured a “Cruise-In” show area, a variety of Dodge and Ram thrill rides, a Dodge SRT^® Demon virtual drive simulator, a selection of automotive vendors, a collection of food vendors and plenty of Dodge-based displays – ranging from a pop-up Dodge apparel store to free spray-on tattoos. Serving as a final exclamation point on the night was a live performance by rap legend Ice Cube.

“The eighth edition of MotorTrend presents Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge featured fresh new event elements, with a unique new downtown Pontiac event location, a new team format that increased the smack talk for the Direct Connection Grudge Race and an amazing performance by a world-famous artist to wrap up the day,” said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge brand and Ram brand CEO – Stellantis. “The bar just keeps getting higher and higher for our annual horsepower circus, because we know it’s what drives our Brotherhood of Muscle.”

Roadkill Nights 2023 drew more than 42,750 spectators to the new location – a new Roadkill Nights record – to watch more than 120 racers duke it out for the total purse of $30,000. Mother Nature dampened things for about an hour, but the track prep crew was quick to dry out the track as soon as the rain stopped and they got back to racing. As a result of the rain, there were fewer qualifying runs than some had hoped, but the organizers were still able to complete all of the racing programs before the concert began at 7:30.

To make for better viewing, there were long sections of elevated grandstands on both sides of the track along with a standing-room-only section along the fences. This allowed more fans to get a better look at the action on the new, better racing surface.

Lots of Dodge Seat Time

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While the main attraction of Roadkill Nights is the legal street racing program, there is plenty of other high-horsepower fun throughout the venue. In the center of the main area this year, there was a large skid pad where professional drivers were offering Dodge Drift Thrill Rides in Challengers and Chargers. A short distance from the starting line, there was a second Thrill Ride area, offering more drifting fun in SRT Hellcat-powered Dodge cars, along with short drag strip pulls in Chargers, Challengers and the Ram 1500 TRX.

Those Roadkill Nights attendees who wanted to get behind the wheel themselves could visit the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon drag racing simulator, which takes place in actual SRT Demons in front of a large screen, but there was also a chance for showgoers to drive a new Dodge product in the real world. Attendees could sign up to drive the new Dodge Hornet GT around Pontiac, and in speaking with a few people who jumped on the opportunity, the short test route provided a great chance to experience the handling and acceleration of the sporty little crossover.

Eating, Shopping and Strolling the Car Show

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Once you were done riding in sliding SRT Hellcat cars, driving the Hornet and virtually racing in the SRT Demon, there was a wide variety of food and beverages for purchase, along with a large vendor area with a wide variety of different vendors. The vendor list included companies such as Primal RC, Mickey Thompson Tires, the Mopar_® Career Automotive Program, Radford Racing School and more, in addition to apparel displays for the Dodge brand and the Roadkill show. The huge Dodge tent had all sorts of items for sale, from a playground ball and a Lego kit to shirts, hats and other wearables.

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Of course, Direct Connection had an eye-catching display that included an array of HEMI^® crate engines, a carbon fiber-bodied Dodge Charger, a Dodge Challenger body-in-white and a Challenger Drag Pak, as well as smaller displays of the performance components offered by the modern Direct Connection catalog. In this same area, Dodge had a full lineup of the 2023 Last Call models for viewing, including the Black Ghost, the Swinger, the Super Bee, the King Daytona, the Shakedown and the SRT Demon 170. There were other 170 units on display elsewhere around the grounds, along with other Challenger and Charger models, and the mighty Ram TRX.

After filling up on whatever fair-type food caught your eye and checking out the many vendors, the Roadkill Nights Cruise-In area was unique to 2023, as it was located outside of the main venue. In past years, the Cruise-In area was within M1 Concourse or the Silverdome parking lot back in 2015, but the organizers opted to open the car show up to the public for 2023. The Cruise-In cars were lined up along Saginaw Street, on the west side of the Roadkill Nights main area, just north of the main entrance.

Ice Cube Thrills the Crowd, Too

While Dodge horsepower provided the majority of the thrills at 2023 Roadkill Nights in downtown Pontiac, legendary rap pioneer Ice Cube closed the night with a thrilling performance of his own. Around 7 p.m., while the racing program on Woodward was getting into the final rounds, the Drift Thrill Rides in the center of the venue closed, freeing up space for spectators at the front of the stage that was positioned away from the racing area.

Ice Cube played an amazing set of about ten songs with fellow former Westside Connection member WC, and they put on a hell of a show. With celebrities including UFC legend Chuck Lidell watching from the side of the stage, Ice Cube belted out an array of his greatest hits and he sounded amazing doing so.

As he often does, Ice Cube ended his show with “It Was a Good Day”, and he was right. Although hard rain drove away some of the crowd shortly after noon, it ended up being a great day of horsepower-filled fun in Pontiac, Michigan, at 2023 Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge. After a day of great racing, getting to experience Ice Cube live made this an experience that most attendees will never forget.