F1 CAR IN TRAFFIC!!!!

Roadkill’s David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan take delivery of a 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat, a 707-horsepower Charger Hellcat, and a 645-horsepower Viper GT straight from Dodge, then head for a motocross track with zero regard for what any of these cars were actually built to do. With guest appearances from Motor Trend, Dirt Every Day, and a professional drifter, this episode marked the start of Dodge’s sponsorship — and it shows exactly why the partnership worked. Watch to see 2,059 combined horsepower meet terrain built for dirt bikes.

2,059 horsepower, three keys, and a motocross track that was never built for anything heavier than a dirt bike — that’s the math one commenter did after watching this Roadkill episode, and it undersells how reckless the premise actually gets. David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan were handed a brand-new 707-horsepower Challenger SRT Hellcat, a 707-horsepower Charger SRT Hellcat, and a 645-horsepower Viper GT, all fresh from Dodge, all with zero instructions on what not to do with them. One viewer joked that somebody at Dodge lost their job over what happens next. Another called it quietly the best advertisement they’d ever seen, which is a strange compliment for a video built entirely around abusing three brand-new supercars.

How a Sponsorship Deal Became a Stress Test

This episode marked the moment Roadkill became “powered by Dodge,” a sponsorship deal that could have easily turned into a sanitized commercial. Instead, the hosts treated three six-figure factory hero cars exactly like they’d treat one of their own junkyard project builds — which is precisely why the deal worked in the first place. Dodge handed over the keys knowing full well what the show’s reputation was built on, and the resulting episode reads less like brand marketing and more like a stress test nobody at corporate signed off on in writing. Most manufacturer tie-ins involve a controlled photo shoot and a scripted drive route; this one involved handing the keys to two guys best known for blowing up engines on camera and trusting them not to embarrass the brand too badly.

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The Red Key Detail Nobody Talks About

The most quietly interesting detail buried in the footage is the key fob itself. Every Hellcat ships with two keys: a black one that electronically caps output at roughly 500 horsepower for valet or new-driver situations, and a red one that unlocks the full 707 horsepower on demand. As one commenter points out, Freiburger and Finnegan used the red keys the entire time, meaning nothing in this video happened at anything less than full factory power — there was no software safety net dialed back to make any of this remotely survivable. That distinction matters more than it sounds — the black key exists specifically so dealerships and worried parents have a way to hand the car to a less experienced driver without risking the full, unfiltered output.

Why the Guest List Raised the Stakes

Guest talent raised the chaos ceiling even further. Carlos Lago came over from Motor Trend proper, Fred Williams brought his Dirt Every Day pedigree for off-road know-how nobody else in the group had, and professional drifter Tony Angelo showed up to do what professional drifters do to cars that were never designed for sideways dirt work. None of these three specialists were exactly the target demographic Dodge’s marketing department had in mind when the Hellcat and Viper GT were engineered, which is exactly the point the episode keeps hammering home. Angelo in particular treated the dirt surface less like an obstacle and more like an invitation, sliding cars that were engineered for drag strips and autocross courses, not loose soil.

The Viper GT Most Viewers Forget

The Viper GT deserves its own explanation, since it’s the one most casual viewers know the least about. Under that long hood sits an 8.4-liter V10 making 645 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque, a naturally aspirated engine going up against two supercharged Hellcats putting down more peak horsepower but arguably less visceral, old-school character. Several commenters in the thread specifically mourn the Viper’s discontinuation, noting that even years later they miss what a 645-horsepower naturally aspirated V10 sounded like next to a pair of blown Hemis screaming through a dirt straightaway. Dodge would eventually retire the naturally aspirated V10 format entirely in favor of forced induction across its performance lineup, which makes this episode an accidental record of the last era before superchargers took over the conversation completely.

Supercars Meet a Track Built for Dirt Bikes

Then there’s the motocross track itself, the detail that turns this from a simple horsepower comparison into something closer to a controlled disaster. None of these three cars were built with any real ground clearance or suspension travel for jumps, whoops, or the kind of terrain a dirt bike handles without a second thought. Watching over 2,000 combined horsepower attempt motocross obstacles designed for two-wheeled vehicles weighing a few hundred pounds is exactly the kind of premise that only makes sense inside a Roadkill episode, and exactly why it racked up the views it did. Ground clearance measured in a couple of inches doesn’t leave much margin when a whoop section appears without warning, and the footage makes clear nobody involved had fully thought that part through in advance.

Why None of It Feels Sanitized

What makes the whole segment land, rather than feel like a stunt for its own sake, is that none of it was staged as safe or sanitized. Tire smoke fills nearly every frame, and the hosts treat brand-new press-fleet supercars with the same casual disregard they’d show a hundred-dollar junkyard beater, which is exactly the tone longtime viewers show up for. It’s a tonal trick few other outlets could pull off with three cars this expensive and this new, and it’s precisely why Dodge kept the sponsorship going well beyond this single episode. Viewers can tell the difference between manufactured jeopardy and the real thing, and this episode reads unmistakably as the real thing from the opening minute to the last.

What the Episode Looks Like Years Later

Almost a decade on, the episode plays as something closer to a time capsule than a stunt reel. The Viper is gone entirely, discontinued after 2017, and the first-generation Hellcat engines that once felt outrageous have since been surpassed by even more powerful Dodge variants riding the same supercharged Hemi architecture. What hasn’t aged at all is the format: hand enthusiasts genuinely dangerous machinery, point them at terrain nobody sane would choose, and let the tire smoke do the marketing that a traditional commercial never could have managed on its own. For anyone revisiting it now, it stands as a reminder of exactly how short-lived that particular horsepower arms race window actually was before emissions rules and electrification began reshaping what Dodge’s lineup could even offer.

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