While the history of the Dodge Magnum wagon was relatively short – with the model lasting just four years – it built a strong following of fans who still love the car today. The Magnum community was excited to see that one of these muscular wagons would be involved in the 2025 Roadkill Nights Direct Connection Grudge Match and Garrett Dobbs did not disappoint. He wasn’t able to win the Grudge Match, but he put on a great showing in the racecar that he built in his two-car garage with the help of a few friends.
Several of the competitors in this year’s Direct Connection Grudge Match already had their car or truck when they were invited to participate, but Garrett Dobbs bought this 2005 Dodge Magnum R/T specifically for the event. He took his followers along with him to pick up the car that he named Hurricane Maggie and it looked like a great premise for a racecar built. Some of the teams added power, some removed weight – Dobbs did both.
Of course, it is powered by the 3.0-liter Hurricane twin turbo inline-six mated to the ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. This team didn’t make any huge changes to the engine aside from the exhaust system, which comes directly up off of the turbochargers and it would go through the hood, if the car had a hood. The added power comes from a Nitrous Outlet system and while we don’t know how much spray he was running, he was making enough power to put up a great fight against Morgan Evans and her 800+ horsepower truck.
Next, Dobbs added lightweight chassis components from AAD and suspension bits from Ridetech, allowing him to make the most of the power being sent down the Gulfcoast Driveshaft. In addition to the companies/brands mentioned, Garrett Dobbs partnered with Accelerated Racing Solutions, Baily’s Hyperformance, Boostane of Texas and NYA Photographer.
Finally, the team removed pretty much everything from the interior that wasnt needed to go racing. They kept the dashboard with some new switches and the center shift console, but the only other things in the front seat area is the race-ready driver’s seat and the quick-release steering wheel. The back seat area is fully bare and the rear cargo area holds an ice tank, a fuel cell and the nitrous bottle.
“Although we had the tuning and remote support from multiple shops, this entire project was built in my small two-car garage with a few friends and just as many floor jacks,” said Dobbs. “I was assisted in this project by my friends Matt Hodgson, Mitchell Monk and Brock Green.”
Dobbs’ Dodge Magnum R/T looked strong during the qualifying runs and in the first round, his bottled-and-boosted wagon beat Deshown Luckey’s Dodge Challenger. However, when he took on Morgan Evans and her 1987 Dodge Ram D150 in the second round, the Magnum got out first, but the truck took the win on the big end.
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