If you are active on social media, there is a chance that you have seen Demi Bagby even if you don’t know her name. Bagby went viral online a few years back for executing what some people call the “world’s best first pitch” at a San Diego Padres game; doing a backflip then a split before throwing the ball home from the split position. If you know of the video, but not her name, that is 24-year-old Demi Bagby. CEO of Big D Media and founder of her own charity group, The Powerfully Positive Project. She also loves to travel and spend time with her dogs, a Belgian Malinois protection dog named Echo and a Mini Dachshund named Poppy. She is active in the world of sports, fitness and automotive performance, and she has a list of impressive vehicles in her past – including some monstrous Dodge and Mopar® performance vehicles. However, when she arrives at Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge to compete in the Hurricane Grudge Match, she will be driving a Buick.
Demi Bagby will be piloting a Buick Grand National that has had its factory turbocharged V6 replaced by the twin turbocharged Hurricane straight six. In the past, Roadkill Nights has required Grudge Match competitors to use a Dodge or Plymouth product, but with the 2025 event using “outlaw” rules, racers are permitted to use non-Mopar vehicles, and Bagby has chosen what is likely one of the most famous American six-cylinder performance cars ever.
Bagby is building her 1987 Buick Grand National with help from Super Duty Headquarters Motorsports (SDHQ) and their Operations Manager, Serena Pruett. In addition to the Hurricane straight six engine and an 8-speed automatic transmission, this female-led build will also feature a long list of high-performance features from Holley, including an exhaust system, a direct-fit fuel tank, cooling system components, a 12.3-inch Pro Dash, a line lock system and a Baer braking system. There are also RideTech front and rear suspension components and Weld wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber.
The Buick Grand National is easily one of the most respected non-V8-powered performance vehicles in American history, so some GM fans are likely to be unhappy with the switch to the Dodge Hurricane engine, but we expect that the new drivetrain is likely to provide plenty of power in front of the Roadkill Nights crowd.
We will have more details and more pictures of Demi Bagby’s 1987 Buick Grand National with Hurricane power once we get closer to 2025 Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge on August 9th.
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