While some General Motors fans were excited to hear that there would be a 1987 Buick Grand National driven by Demi Bagby representing the GM crowd at 2025 Roadkill Nights, purists were not happy with what would be under the hood. The Hurricane Grudge Match was an outlaw class this year, allowing competitors to use non-Mopar® vehicles, but they had to use the Hurricane inline-six engine. This means that the trademark turbocharged V6 of the Buick was removed and in its place, the turbocharged Hurricane I6 of the new Dodge Charger SIXPACK.
The Hurricane engine in Bagby’s Buick was fitted with a handful of custom parts, including custom fabricated downpipes and exhaust from Super Duty Headquarters Motorsports (SDHQ Operations Manager, Serena Pruett, assisted in this build), and tuned by Jeremy Satera to offer 813 horsepower. As you can see, the engine is a bit tall for the factory hood, so Bagby cut a hole in the hood to make room for the engine air intake. Other than the wheels and tires, that modified hood is the only sign that this isn’t a stock Buick Grand National.
To help handle the added power, Demi Bagby added Ridetech suspension components and Weld wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson rubber. Holley Baer brakes slow the car down and a Holley radiator keeps the boosted engine cool.
Finally, the interior of this Buick features Simpson racing seats and harnesses, as well as an AEM dash setup that is mounted in a clean custom dash face, but there has been some weight removed in the form of the back seat and the carpeting.
Demi Bagby’s 1987 Buick Grand National looked and sounded great in qualifying, but she drew the Hooligan Brothers and their Fox Body Mustang in the first round. That Mustang was screaming fast, making it to the finals, so it was too tough of a matchup for the Buick in round one.
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