[VIDEO] C8 Corvette ZR1X vs. Dodge Demon 170 in the Quarter, No Clever Headline Necessary!

Mar 24, 2026

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[VIDEO] C8 Corvette ZR1X vs. Dodge Demon 170 in the Quarter, No Clever Headline Necessary!

Nobody does drag cars like the good ol’ US of A, and, here in the land of the free during the 2020s, there are really only three names that matter in straight-line speed. Those names are Demon 170, ZR1/ZR1X, and some boring EVs.

This past week wasn’t just about St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness, we also had TX2K, the “Super Bowl of street car events” going on in Ennis, Texas. Combined with the Camissa video from the 12th, we’ve already borne witness to the quickest Corvettes in history taking on the(quite literally) heaviest hitters in the EV realm, but now it’s time to head back to TX2K to see the All-American matchup everyone is clamoring for, where the thunderous ZR1X and Demon 170 come to blows over 1,320 feet of tarmac thanks to Brooks from DragTimes.

We know the ZR1X pretty well around here, but here’s the Cliff Notes in case you just woke up from a coma: the Corvette is midengined now! The V8 in behind the driver in last year’s top-shelf ZR1 model is a flat-plane 5.5L unit called the LT7 that uses the biggest turbos ever fitted to a production car to send – an amazingly underrated – 1,064 horsepower to the rear wheels. It launches surprisingly well for a RWD car with more power than a Bugatti Veyron, but the Corvette team wanted more, and their baby’s new layout allowed them to get it by adding a self-contained battery pack/electric motor to the front axle, adding two driven wheels and 186 horses to the formula for a total output of 1,250 in a roughly 4,100 lb. package called the ZR1X. It’s safe to say that it’s pretty quick.

The Demon 170 has been around since 2023 when it acted as a swan song for the Dodge Challenger that had been around for 15 model years. It uses a fortified “Hellcat” V8 with a bigger 3.0L supercharger. The 170 in its name is a nod to the alcohol proof of the E85 ethanol fuel that, when utilized, helps it reach its full potential of 1,025 HP and 945 lb-ft of torque. It isn’t just a knuckle-dragging simpleton, either. The Demon has several shrewd tricks up its sleeves (if it didn’t immediately tear the sleeves off all its theoretical shirts, that is). Its fast-shifting 8-speed automatic features the only transmission brake on a production car, wears massive rear slicks and comes with skinnies to keep the front light – it can do wheelies! – a “Power Chiller” that reroutes the AC’s cooling power to the engine and continues to circulate coolant even after the car is parked, and a pre-boost feature that allows the supercharger to spin up before launches. Heck, the SRT team behind the Demon was so focused on optimizing drag work that their creation only came with a driver’s seat from the factory to save weight, people who wanted to carry a passenger or two had to pay extra for the privilege.

Brooks of the DragTimes YouTube channel already lost a head-to-head against a Demon 170 in his personal C8 ZR1, but this time, he has borrowed his friend’s ZR1X to see if he can settle the score in the ultimate battle of domestic titans. See which engineering feat comes out on top below!