Hellcat Killer: A 2010 Challenger SRT8 and a fountain of boost help a retired police detective find 1,000 hp, 9-second e.t.’s, and a fountain of youth
The year is 1968. Newbie police officer Bill Scharing gets a call to go break up a street race. Before he knows it, he’s chasing down a perp fleeing the scene in a brand-new big-block Charger. While the typical police cruiser would be no match for the perp’s rippling 383, Bill’s Plymouth Belvedere is packing some Mopar heat of its own. With Bill’s police academy–honed driving skills compensating for the 340 small-block’s cubic-inch handicap, the Belvedere tenaciously keeps the big-block Charger in its crosshairs as the chase twists through the hills of Los Angeles. It’s B-Body-on-B-Body action at its finest, until fate steps in, and the bad guy finds himself in a crunched-up heap of metal. Needless to say, a pair of fine Mopars made quite an impression on Bill that day.
The year is 2010. Retired LAPD Detective Bill Scharing takes a carefree drive down the freeway. Off in the distance, he spots what appears to be an orange ’70 Challenger. While the typical late-model looks as distinctive as a jellybean at the Jelly Belly factory, there’s just something captivating about this retro late-model Challenger. With fond memories of brutally fast Mopars of yore rushing back into his psyche, he’s mesmerized by the Challenger’s flowing lines and the glug-glug gurgle of its Gen III Hemi. It’s an experience he cannot shake until one day he gives in to his desires, and brings home a brand-new Hemi-powered ’11 Challenger. Needless to say, a certain retro-themed Mopar made quite an impression on Bill that day.
Now in 2015, Bill’s Challenger is the one making memorable impressions on anyone who sees it in action. Thanks to a 4.7L Kenne Bell supercharger and a 436ci Gen III Hemi, in goes 20 psi of boost and out comes 1,018 rear-wheel horsepower. Running 9s in the quarter-mile and 208 mph in the standing mile has never been easier. Getting the job done in a 4,400-pound tank with posh leather seats, A/C, power everything, GPS, an independent rear suspension, and 20-inch drag radials makes the deed even more impressive. Some may say that a late-model Challenger lacks the character of a ’70 Challenger, but with speed and comfort in such wretched excess, who cares?
After proudly serving his country, Bill served his community as a distinguished police officer for the next several decades. Although his personal rides up to that point included Chevys and Fords, on-the-job training introduced him to the power of Mopars on both sides of the law. “On the night we got the call for street racing, I pulled up behind both cars just as they were lining up. They took off, and we hit 100 mph,” Bill recollects. “The guy in the Charger slowed down to 50, made a U-turn right in front of me, then starting racing through the hills at 60-70 mph. I lost sight of him, but once I pulled within 50 yards I saw that his car was stopped and his headlights were pointed straight at me. I didn’t know what happened at first, but then realized that as he drove over the hill, his car went airborne before landing backward and hitting a parked car. A woman told us that our timing was perfect because some guy just crashed. I said, ‘Lady, we’ve been chasing this guy for three miles!’”
That was just one of many instances where the Mopar-powered police force came to the rescue. “On many occasions, we would have six or seven suspects probed out in the street, and when we called for backup, we could hear the responding officers a mile away in their 340ci Belvederes. It was that big four-barrel carb sucking in the air quite loudly, and it was a very reassuring sound,” Bill reminisces. After retiring from the force as a detective, he felt the itch to jump back into the hobby, but figuring out what kind of car to buy proved challenging.
Perhaps the exposure to so many badass Mopars early in his career had something to do with it, but Bill didn’t care for another Chevy or Ford. “I didn’t want to clunk around the highway in a ’32 Ford. When I saw the new Challenger driving down the road, I said ‘holy crap, that thing’s beautiful,’” Bill says. “I testdrove one the next day and got hooked once again. I immediately ordered up a ’11 Challenger with a 392 Hemi and a six-speed manual trans. Right after break-in, I started racing it at the dragstrip.”
Good times at the track led to visions of grandiose performance mods, however, the lack of aftermarket computer tuners stymied Bill’s enthusiasm. “Accomplishing the performance goals I had in mind required tuning the factory computer, but Chrysler locked the software and several aftermarket companies were working on cracking the code. I became frustrated and impatient, so instead of waiting, I bought a ’10 Challenger SRT8 that already had a tuner available for it,” he explains. “I kept the ’11 Challenger and decided to use it as a parts chaser. In addition to going as fast as possible at the dragstrip, I wanted to run 200 mph in the standing mile, drive the car to and from racing events, and still be able to use it as a daily driver. I wanted to go big, and planned the entire build in my head. I took the car to Spankin’ Time Performance [San Bernardino, California] to get the project started.”
This here is a man who means business. So much so that the first item on the agenda was installing an NHRA-legal rollbar. Likewise, instead of messing around with bolt-ons, Bill went straight for the good stuff by ordering a 436ci Gen III Hemi from BES Racing Engines—you know, the guys who won several AMSOIL Engine Masters Challenges with a Gen III Hemi. Based on a Mopar Performance block that’s been bored to 4.125 inches, the combo features a forged Callies crank, Carrillo steel rods, and CP 9.7:1 pistons. Ported factory cylinder heads provide plenty of flow potential, but the most potent weapon in the Hemi’s arsenal is a massive 4.7L Kenne Bell twin-screw supercharger. A built Paramount Performance NAG1 five-speed auto is tasked with channeling the supercharged grunt to the rear wheels, where the combo lays down a stunning 1,018 hp and 856 lb-ft of torque on the chassis dyno. Even at 20 psi, race gas isn’t required. Instead, the blown Hemi burns E85 straight from the pump, with precisely metered squirts of methanol injection at the ready just in case ambient conditions call for a few extra points of octane.
Without even knowing it, Bill built a bona fide Hellcat killer several years before Chrysler unveiled the Hellcat Challenger to the public. That qualifies as being a visionary in most circles. More importantly, perhaps none of this would have happened if not for a certain 383 Charger and a certain 340 Belvedere that made quite an impression on Bill one fateful night back in 1968. Even if you’re old enough to get the senior discount at Denny’s, it’s never too late to become a Mopar man. 1,600 HP In A Box.
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