For the second year in a row, Morgan Evans has driven her 1987 Dodge Ram D150 to victory in the Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge Grudge Match, featuring the new 3.0-liter inline-six engine from the 2026 Dodge Charger SIXPACK. We have already talked about her big win, but today, we bring you a look at all of the races from the 2025 Direct Connection Grudge Match.
Before getting into the video, here is a quick rundown of the competitors, for those who missed our earlier articles on the Direct Connection Grudge Match field. In fact, even if you read all of our racer introduction pieces prior to the event, there is some news, as Deshown Luckey showed up with a very different vehicle than we initially expected.
For those who aren’t familiar with the rules this year, it has been changed to an outlaw class, with the only rules being that the teams use the Hurricane 3.0-liter twin turbo I6 engine. Really, the biggest change with the introduction of the outlaw rules is that competitors were free to use non-Dodge (and non-Plymouth) vehicles for the first time in the history of the Roadkill Nights Grudge Match program. As a result, the initial entry list had three Dodge products – a Jeep®, a Ford and a Buick – but that lineup changed a bit on the day of the race. Luckey switched from the Jeep to a Dodge Challenger SRT® Hellcat and he built the Hurricane-powered muscle car in five days.
Morgan Evans – 1987 Dodge Ram D150
Garrett Dobbs – 2005 Dodge Magnum R/T
John O’Malley – 2000 Dodge Viper ACR
The Hooligan Brothers – 1991 Ford Mustang
Deshown Luckey – 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody
Demi Bagby – 1987 Buick Grand National
The Grudge Racing Action
Prior to making their official class runs, the Grudge Match competitors made qualifying runs along with the rest of the Roadkill Nights racing field. All of the Hurricane-powered vehicles got down the track nicely, but when Morgan Evans ran right with Tom Bailey’s monstrous HEMI® engine-powered Durango, she put the rest of the class on notice – she was the reigning champ and with her 1987 Dodge Ram D150, she was ready to defend that title.
In the first round of the 2025 Roadkill Nights Direct Connection Grudge Match, the massive crowd watched three races – Garrett Dobbs versus Deshown Luckey, The Hooligan Brothers versus Demi Bagby, and Morgan Evans versus John O’Malley.
In the race between Dobbs and Luckey, the carbon fiber Challenger got out first, but the Magnum quickly closed the gap and pulled ahead, easily taking the win when Luckey’s Challenger appeared to be down on power late in the run. Unfortunately, Luckey didn’t have time to test with his build ahead of time and that surely played a role in his issues in his first round run.
The race between Demi Bagby and her Buick and The Hooligan Brothers and their Fox Body Mustang wasn’t much of a race, as the crew from Illinois really had their Hurricane-powered Ford screaming. It was clearly one of the quickest cars in the Grudge Match field, jumping out to an early lead against Bagby’s Grand National and continuing to pull away as the two headed down the track.
The last pairing of the first round saw reigning champ Morgan Evans and her 1987 Dodge pickup taking on the Dodge Viper of John O’Malley. Evans laid down a stunning run against Tom Bailey in qualifying, but O’Malley’s Viper looked very fast in the early runs as well, so this promised to be a great race. As soon as the starter dropped his arms, Evans got a fantastic launch and roared out to an early lead that was far too big for the Viper to overcome.
In the second round, The Hooligan Brothers’ Mustang had a single pass and they went pretty hard on that run, showing how well their I6-powered pony car got down the track.
Meanwhile, Morgan Evans and Garrett Dobbs went head to head in a great side-by-side drag race. Dobbs had a slight advantage on the start, but the two were close throughout most of the run. Late in the pass, Dobbs’ Magnum coughed out some smoke and while we aren’t sure if there was an issue, it was around that point where really Evans pulled ahead to take the win.
In the finals, Morgan Evans and her 1987 Dodge Ram D150 took on The Hooligan Brothers and their 1987 Ford Mustang. Evans’ Hurricane engine is modified with a custom intake and exhaust side, carrying a big single turbocharger and making gobs of power.
On the other hand, The Hooligan Brothers left their Hurricane engine stock, instead focusing on cutting weight as much as possible – leading to a track weight (that includes the driver) of just 2,444 pounds.
The lightweight pony car appeared to get off the line a bit quicker, holding a small early edge, but the big power of Evans’ Dodge D150 quickly stormed ahead and off to the victory.
The heavily pro-Dodge crowd exploded with applause as Evans and her classic pickup took the win over the Mopar®-powered Ford, making her the back-to-back Direct Connection Grudge Match champion.
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