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FEATURE INTERVIEW:

2024 RoadKill Nights Special!

This special bonus episode on The Muscle Car Place is brought to you live once again from the streets of Pontiac, Michigan! Our man on the street reporter Scott Stap was roadside at M1 Concourse for drag racing and show cars at the annual RoadKill Nights event, presented by Dodge. Every year this event brings action, excitement, and new automotive experiences to Michigan (and visitors from other Midwestern states) automotive enthusiasts!

This episode is from “reveal day” where grudge match racers were introduced to reveal their drag race cars and Dodge introduced its new platform. Friday was a media only event and Scott was able to get his recorder and microphones in to talk to more Dodge insiders for a behind the scenes look at the future of automotive transportation. This was before Roadkill Nights opened to the public and there were a lot of people to talk to in a short period of time. He talked to old friends that have been on the show before as well as interviewing new guests from Hot Rod and YouTube.

Kevin Hellman – Senior Vice President Head of Dodge//SRT Brand Product: It has been a couple years since Kevin has been on the show in episode 407 and he is still working hard to make Dodge the household name people think of. He is very excited about the direction the brand is taking and says to expect Dodge to keep its foot on the throttle making new vehicles go fast. The focus is on making the electric vehicles to be the higher performance line while the gasoline versions will still be offered with the T6 inline six engines going into the future. Also one new twist is that the Charger vehicles will be offered in both two and four door variants to please both the old school sports enthusiasts as well as the younger crowd that appreciates getting their friends in with ease.

Jeff Gale – Chief Interior Designer for Dodge: Jeff can be found every year at the Roadkill Nights event in Pontiac enjoying the atmosphere and the high performance vehicles. He is also watching the release of the vehicles he and his team has worked so hard on during the year. The new Charger has definitely been a work of love and passion as they have crafted an all new interior that still pays homage to the original 60’s and 70’s versions. He said that the technical team has been able to add even higher technology into the dash and up the level of the interior over the last year to be even more advanced than the concept car. Jeff said that there is a environment of creativity at Dodge and team members are allowed to explore ideas when designing new vehicles.

Scott Krugger – VP Head of Exterior Design for Dodge: Scott grew up around cars but was always good at drawing. When he was in high school he found out about automotive design and he was hooked. He is very happy with the results of the new Dodge Charger Daytona and said they were not always sure the front end treatment of the car was going to be fully true and the grille opening was in question. He said they worked very hard to make sure that the car stayed true to the original design that wowed people at the unveiling of the concept car. His teams hard work paid off and they have produced a beautiful car that harkens to the muscle we love and it kept the grille opening too!

Mike Galimi – HOT ROD Network Director: Mike has worked at Hot Rod and Motor Trend for years and had his team reporting live from the Roadkill Nights event for the ninth time. He said he grew up during the Mustang Fox body era in the 80’s and still loves those vehicles. In the 90’s though he worked in New York on Wall Street before realizing his passion for automotive was greater than where he was at. He soon found himself being called on by David Freiburger to join the team at Hot Rod and he has been covering high performance automotive events ever since. Mike said that the events team at Hot Rod has been incredible and any wild idea has been fully realized by Karen Brown and the event team. Hot Rod live gatherings attract a lot of people and they are working hard to bring something closer to all enthusiasts. You can find out more about Mike and read some of his articles including coverage of RoadKill Nights at Motortrend.com/staff/michael-galimi.

Morgan Evans – Torque and Tungsten YouTube Automotive Influencer, Metal Artist: Morgan and Jason are long time automotive gear heads first and then YouTube content creators second. Morgan said she wishes they had started recording their in the garage escapades earlier but never regrets playing with vehicles ever. They were handed a new T6 Hurricrate package with the Hurricane inline six cylinder engine from Dodge and $20,000 to put it into something cool and drag race other people (including Mike Musto and Herman Young) in a head to head grudge match. Jason compared the new compound turbo engine to a 2JZ or a RB26 but with more power. This interview was half way through the day of drag racing but I am happy to say that Morgan and Jason built a very tough resilient package that did not break and triumphed at the end of the day. Check them out at YouTube.com/@TorqueandTungsten on Instagram.com/merganevans or check out her metal art at Instagram.com/morgansmetals