All Hail the Hellephant

Imagine it’s 1973 and you’re an aspiring racer/car builder. Working out of your little shotgun shack, single-car garage, you’ve welded together a pretty sweet little sports racer. Your surfer buddy, who’s good with fiberglass, has fashioned you a sexy and light body to drape over your putative race winner. Despite your lack of resources, you’ve managed to single-handedly cobble together the foundation of a potentially potent Can-Am racer. All the ingredients are there to launch your career—and maybe even a new racing brand name—but you lack the defining component…a serious powerplant. But what if I told you, you could jump into your Country Squire station wagon, drive down the street to your local Volkswagen dealership, and for the cost of a new 911, buy—over the counter—a brand new Porsche 917/30 motor with 1,110-hp, just like the ones the Penske team are currently campaigning? Could that have potentially changed the arc of racing history?

As completely impossible as this scenario may sound, at this year’s SEMA show, FCA (Fiat Chrysler) basically announced the modern day equivalent when they unveiled their upcoming, over-the-counter, performance crate motor, the “Hellephant.” In the first quarter of 2019, you’ll be able to waltz into a Dodge dealer and pick up a brand new, turn-key, supercharged, 426-cu.in. HEMI V8 crate motor that comes from the factory with 1,000 horsepower and 950 lb-ft of torque! According to Dodge’s Mopar performance division, this is the most horsepower ever offered as a crate engine kit by an original equipment manufacturer.