He’s a Bad Ass-ador

Some people spend decades working their way up through the drag racing ranks. Garrett Dobbs went from a bone-stock SRT^® Hellcat to running mid-eights with a parachute on the back of the car in just two years. The Texas-based racer’s journey from casual car enthusiast to Dodge Badassador reads like someone hit the fast-forward button to go from casual fan to THIS IS WHAT I DO! But this is what happens when passion and talent meet the right opportunities at exactly the right time.

“Growing up, I used to love going to car shows and just looking at cars,” Dobbs recalls. “Every time I’d see a supercar or an old classic muscle car, I’d always point it out and get really excited. Even as a kid, cars just always excited me.”

But like many enthusiasts who grew up without access to a bank vault full of cash, those early dreams stayed just that, dreams. In his early years, cars were transportation, not toys. That changed when Dobbs joined the Marine Corps and found himself with a steady paycheck and the discipline to pursue his passion.

His first “muscle-ish car” was actually a 2012 V6 Camaro. (We won’t fault him for that. He found his way home.) “I enjoyed it. It was cool,” he says with a laugh. “I would go ripping around town and just giving her hell with that little V6.”

What followed was an unusual vehicular odyssey that included motorcycles, a WRX, a Maserati and four Ram trucks scattered throughout his life. “I took a weird upgrade path,” Dobbs admits. But that wandering eventually led him exactly where he needed to be. Behind the wheel of an SRT Hellcat Challenger.

Four years ago, almost to the day of our conversation, Dobbs brought home his first SRT Hellcat. He drove it daily, completely stock, for two years before the drag-racing bug bit him hard. “I was just out in my stock Hellcat on Sundays at the local track doing my thing,” he explains. “Just testing and tuning, nothing big.”

The turning point came on his birthday when he connected with Herman Young of Demonology. They hit it off immediately. “He and I became pretty good friends,” Dobbs says. “We’d help him with content, and in turn, he would mentor me into racing and content creation.”

Exactly one year later, again on his birthday. Dodge opened up their Badassador program. “I was like, you know what, that’s a sign,” Dobbs remembers. He signed up, and everything fell into place.

“Man, it’s been a string of luck,” he says, though anyone who knows racing understands luck only gets you so far. The rest requires skill, dedication and the kind of discipline Dobbs developed during his time in the Marines.

Shortly after connecting with Herman Young, Dobbs was introduced to Chris Baily, and as he puts it, “it’s all gone downhill, in a good way.”

When you have folks like Demonology and Baily to listen and learn from, things get a bit easier at the track. The key was getting the 4,000-plus-pound SRT Hellcat out of the hole efficiently. His 60-foot times dropped from a 1.7 to a blistering 1.2, and suddenly the car that had been a comfortable daily driver was running 8.7-second quarter-miles at 158 mph – and that’s on a conservative tune without nitrous.

“We just got a new motor and supercharger in it, and we’re working out all the kinks,” Dobbs explains. The car’s capable of mid-eights, potentially better, and here’s the kicker: “It’s still registered. Still got insurance. I drive it on the street.”

Throughout 2025, Dobbs hit events like Streetcar Takeover, Streetcar Bragging Rights, Roadkill Nights and Moparty, racking up three class wins. But his most meaningful victory came at Streetcar Showdown, an event organized by T&E Promotions. The company’s owner, TJ Baily, a legendary track prep guy who’d worked with NHRA for years and served as lead prep guy at Texas Motorplex, was killed when a tornado struck while he was prepping the track for Texas 2K, just two days before the event.

“It was a rough situation,” Dobbs says, his voice catching slightly. “His partner is carrying on the races, and I went out and won my class. Two of my friends won their classes. His son won his class. It was Winner’s Circle after Winner’s Circle with all of us. It may not have been the biggest event I won last year, but it was definitely the most meaningful.”

These days, Dobbs calls Texas Motorplex home, testing once or twice a month but showing up at the track once or twice a week. His wife has taken over driving their Dodge Magnum Hurricane. Both cars are getting cages installed, and both drivers are upgrading their safety equipment as speeds continue to climb.

The financial reality of racing hasn’t escaped him. “Everyone’s probably gonna say this, but the financial aspect of racing can be tough,” he acknowledges. “When you first get into it, you don’t know anything about picking up sponsors. You’re probably funding it out of your own wallet, and it’s not cheap to race. I still can’t say I have things 100% figured out, but I can at least sustain my race program at this point.”

Content creation helps fund the racing habit. With an SRT Hellcat on the track, a Ram 2500 towing it and a Durango as his daily driver, Dobbs has the complete Dodge lineup and the content to match. “I already make all these videos,” he explains. “I’m always pushing Dodge content, and I saw the opportunity to be a Badassador, so I jumped at it.”

Looking ahead to 2026, Texas 2K in mid-March tops his event list, followed by the Streetcar Takeover series. He did admit seeing a 7.99 on the time slip is something he wants. After posting a 7-something-second pass, he plans to dial the car back to consistently run in the 8.30 to 8.50 range. They haven’t even armed the nitrous system yet, starting conservatively with plans to work up from 100-150 shot to eventually running 300-400 horsepower worth of spray on the top end.

“The goal is to take off a second,” Dobbs says, “but I really don’t have any desire to go that fast forever. I just have fun with it. It’s a family thing for us.”

That perspective, keeping it fun, keeping it family-focused, might be what separates Dobbs from a lot of racers who burn out chasing tenths. He’s not trying to conquer the world. He’s a guy who loved cars as a kid, served his country, learned discipline and professional skills in the Marine Corps, and then found himself in the right place at the right time with the right people around him, and the right skill set to leverage the situation.

“I’ve been very blessed,” he says. “The people around me have set me up for success, and I’ve taken every opportunity they’ve given me.”

From ripping around town with a V6 to a mid-eight-second SRT Hellcat with a pack full of laundry on the rear end, Garrett Dobbs’ progression might seem impossibly fast. But speed is relative. Sometimes the fastest path is the one where you’re smart enough to recognize opportunity, humble enough to accept mentorship and brave enough to push the throttle when the moment arrives. In Dobbs’ case, all that happened to coincide with his birthday, TWICE!

If you want to see Garrett making a pass in Scarlette, have a look and give Garrett a follow on his Instagram while you are there. https://www.instagram.com/p/DR8C3hiiJTk/

Photo Credit: https://www.instagram.com/nyaphotographer/