Matt SRTAddicts Wins the HemiNsanity Direct Connection Street Class

Woodward Dream Cruise week is a big deal for most gearheads around the Motor City, but thanks to the Modern Street Hemi Shootout (MSHS) series, the weekend of the Dream Cruise also has some thrilling Mopar® drag racing. For the past seven years, Dan VanHorn’s series has competed at either Milan Dragray or Lapeer Dragway, bringing many of the quickest modern HEMI®-powered vehicles in the country to the Detroit area.

If you read Dodge Garage often, you are likely familiar with the MSHS, as we talk about it a great deal, but we usually focus on the quickest cars in the field. Recently, we have talked about VanHorn’s turbocharged Challenger and the legendary GrmpyCat Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat race car which are two vehicles we have featured recently, but the MSHS isn’t just a bunch of 6- and 7-second cars. The series has index classes for vehicles that run 8.50, 9.50, 10.50, 11.50 and 12.50, and for the 2022 racing season, Dodge’s Direct Connection is the official sponsor of the 12.50 index “street” class.

Since the cars in the street class generally get less coverage than the record-setting cars in the quickest classes, I attended this year’s HemiNsanity event at Milan Dragway specifically to get a look at the Direct Connection class and today, we bring you a look at that class in the series.

Direct Connection Street Class Field

The Modern Street Hemi Shootout Direct Connection Street Class field at HemiNsanity was comprised mostly of Dodge Chargers and Challengers, with a handful of Chrysler 300s, Jeep Grand Cherokees and a Ram TRX in the mix.

Coming into the Michigan event, Joe Tan was leading the class championship chase with his Challenger Scat Pack Shaker and as a long-time series regular, Tan was in Metro Detroit on Woodward weekend with the hopes of extending his points lead over Chris Rosario, who races a Chrysler 300 SRT®. Matt Green – known better on Dodge Garage as Matt SRTAddicts – sat in third place with his Chrysler 300C. Rosario was not in attendance at HemiNsanity, giving Green a chance to jump into the second spot with a strong finish. The video below shows Tan and Green going head-to-head during time trials.

Ultimately, the Direct Connection Street class is ideal for any near-stock Dodge Challenger or Charger Scat Pack models or lightly modified R/T models, as well as the Chrysler and Jeep models with the same engines. Of course, 12.50 is also a good number for a stock TRX, but for the most part, anyone with a stock or lightly modified 6.1 or 6.4 car will be right in the thick of things in this class.

HemiNsanity 12.50 Eliminations

In the first round of eliminations, both Tan and Green won to advance to the round of 16. In that second round, Tim Carmody grabbed a bit starting line advantage over Joe Tan (0.084 to 0.389) and although Tan ran closer to the 12.50 index number, Carmody got to the line first to take the win. As for Matt Green, he took on Jeff Smith, but when Smith slept on the green light, Green had an easy run down the track for the win, running a 12.76 to Smith’s 12.54. Other notable matchups in that second round included a loss by John Govenetti, who is one of the other top competitors in the Direct Connection Street class, and a win by Rich Sprinzl in his Dodge Charger.

The third round of 12.50 eliminations at HemiNsanity saw eight cars battling for the class title. Matt Green pulled an awesome 0.056 reaction time and ran a 12.56 to beat Jason Dandrea, Pete Seguin ran a winning 12.51 when Dan Yost broke out with a 12.44, Chris Cole won in a double breakout run and Rich Sprinzl beat Tim Carmody, who red lit.

The final four in the Direct Connection Street Class saw Matt Green of SRTAddicts taking on Chris Cole, with Green once again laying down a wicked reaction time (0.057) to jump out to a big lead. Cole never caught up, allowing Green to coast to the finals with a 12.69. On the other side of the semifinals ladder, Rich Sprinzl took on Pete Seguin in a generational battle of Chargers, but with Seguin red lit, Sprinzl had the free pass to the finals. He still ran a 12.54 on that pass, showing that he can run the index number.

Finally, Matt Green and his Chrysler SRT 300 took on Rich Sprinzl in his Dodge Charger. Green pulled a 0.111 reaction time to get an early lead, followed by a 12.592 elapsed time, while Sprinzl broke out with a 12.463. As a result, Matt Green of SRT Addicts and DodgeGarage took home the Direct Connection Street class title for the Modern Street Hemi Shootout 2022 HemiNsanity.

The Modern Street Hemi Shootout has two events left on the 2022 schedule – October 21-22 at Maryland International Raceway and November 12 at Cecil County Dragway. If you have a modern HEMI-powered vehicle and you are interested in going racing, the MSHS is a great series in which to start and for most stock Dodge owners, the Direct Connection Street class will be a nice fit.

1 Comment

durelle1995

jessie durelle wheres mine