Sisterhood of Muscle: Kenzie Peterson

There are many amazing women who participate in the automotive world in some capacity in a Dodge product, but Kenzie Peterson is the “quickest woman with a VIN” in the modern drag racing community. Peterson recently piloted her TorRed 2018 Challenger SRT® Demon to an 8.54 quarter-mile elapsed time at 161 miles per hour, making her the quickest woman to make a track pass in a modern Challenger SRT Demon – but it goes further than that.

No woman has run a quicker quarter-mile time in any modern Dodge product built for street use. The only women to run a quicker E.T. with a modern Dodge vehicle are Leah Pruett and Catherine Kosiba, both of whom drive Challenger Drag Pak models, which are not applicable for street use. As a result, Peterson is the quickest woman with a VIN in the modern Dodge racing community – and she is likely to get even quicker next season.

An Early Record-Setter

Kenzie Peterson’s first experience on the drag strip came in a Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 back in 2018, which had been purchased for her by her mom and stepfather. Her stepfather is Tim Holmberg of Holmberg Motorsports, who has loads of experience building and tuning modern Mopar® performance vehicles – from Challengers and Chargers to Durangos, Grand Cherokees and Ram 1500s.

Peterson’s Challenger 1320 was more or less stock, with just some basic weight reduction, but she proved to be very quick shortly after hitting the track. In fact, it didn’t take long for her to set the stock-power record for a 1320, running 11.37 at 118 miles per hour, a record which stood for the better part of a year. The only modifications made to that single-seat 1320 was a lightweight battery from Darrel Cox Racing, skinny front wheels and tires and Mickey Thompson ET Street R drag radials on lightweight rear wheels.

Around the time that Peterson was racing, setting records and loving every minute of it, Holmberg suggested that she make a run in his F8 Green Dodge Challenger SRT Demon once it was finished. At that time, she thought that it sounded crazy to pilot an 8-second car when she was racing an 11-second car, but here we are – talking about her own record-setting 8-second Dodge Demon.

Racing the Demon

Once Peterson’s parents saw her interest in drag racing grow with the Challenger 1320, they began hunting for a second Dodge SRT Demon. Tim Holmberg found Demon #478 in TorRed with just 400 miles on the odometer. It was the perfect car for his stepdaugther to advance her drag racing experience.

Kenzie spent the first season racing her SRT Demon in stock form, participating in the Modern Street HEMI® Shootout and other events around the country while running in the high-9-second range, with her best times in the 9.60s. After that first season, the factory engine was pulled and set aside to protect the collectible value of this limited-edition muscle car and in its place, a modified version of the same basic engine.

Kenzie Peterson’s 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is currently powered by a factory-style 376-cubic-inch Hemituner forged short block. This stronger-than-stock engine is fitted with a set of factory cylinder heads ported by KTRE, a factory 2.7-liter IHI supercharger ported by Jokerz Performance fitted with a 2.75-inch pulley and a nitrous oxide system – all of which is tuned to run on E90 ethanol blend by the modern Mopar expert, Tim Barth. A factory-style 8HP90 automatic transmission built by Sipple Speed and Performance sends the power through the Mark Williams two-piece driveshaft, a Hemituner billet differential housing and Driveshaft Shop axles to the rear wheels. The car also has a roll cage and a parachute, making sure that Peterson is safe when going 160+ miles per hour on the track.

This setup allowed Peterson to run an 8.54 at 161 miles per hour, breaking the previous SRT Demon record that was set by NHRA driver Leah Pruett. Pruett ran an 8.60 in an SRT Demon with a custom carbon fiber body and a twin turbo setup, while Peterson ran an 8.54 with the full factory body and the factory forced supercharger.

Who Inspired Her Motorsports Interests?

We asked Kenzie Peterson who inspired her to get involved in the motorsports world and below, you will find her answer.

“Tim (Holmberg) is definitely a major factor for getting me involved in racing. Of course, my mom gave him the ‘go ahead’ to get the 1320 ordered to get me started and obviously supporting it all from the start. Also, my dad, Chad, got me hooked on cars at a young age so I’ve always been around cars my whole life – whether it was just being around them, driving them or even fixing them. I’ve helped my dad in his shop since I was at least 12 years old with the basics like oil changes, tire rotations, etc. I also helped Tim with the motor swap we did on my Demon a couple months ago and random things that he needs help with around the shop.”

Plans for 2023

After running in the 8.50s a few weeks back, Peterson cleaned up her 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon for winter storage ahead of forecasts for the first snow storms in the northern United States. That means that she won’t be resetting her record any more this year, but she did expect to go faster in 2023.

During the off-season, Peterson plans to install a fire suppression system to make her SRT Demon even safer as she pushes deeper into the 8-second range. She explained that right now, she is launching around 50% power and ramping it up shortly after the launch, but she is still running 8.50s with 60-foot numbers in the 1.30s. With some improvement on the launch with the current setup, she expects to get down into the 8.30-8.40 range with a 60-foot time in the 1.20s.

Leaving on full power with good traction and in good air, Peterson believes that her 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon could get into the 7-second range in the near future.

In short, Kenzie Peterson is currently the quickest 2018 SRT Demon driver and the quickest modern Mopar driver in a street-legal car – and with her car being capable of much quicker times, she could be the “quickest with a VIN” well into the future.

1 Comment

Great read and nice ride.