One Lap of America: Wrecked Challenger Returns

Guess what the cat dragged in? Here at the Tire Rack headquarters in South Bend, the start-finish line for One Lap of America, the Dodge Challenger SRT that wrecked back at Road America rolled up to join the road-weary One Lap cars. Having made the drive from Wisconsin to Indiana under its own power, and despite having been disqualified it from competing officially, the mangled Mopar had its own victory to celebrate. Not only it participate in the final skid-pad event—it delivered, with Erich at the wheel, the burliest burnout of all the cars that scorched their tires in victory circle. It turns out the crash damage was almost entirely cosmetic: the only mechanical difficulties resulting from the wreck were a burned-up fan motor (it was smoking after being pinched against the engine when the radiator got mashed back a couple of inches) and some torn-up ABS wiring. Erich will be driving it home to Detroit, and fellow Chrysler engineer Ralph Giles will be rebuilding the race car to run in the Targa Newfoundland. Stay tuned, as CarDomain will be following this project closely. And check below the jump for more pics of the Challenger’s hilarious One Lap encore!