Powerfest and RKN 2024

A couple months ago we had Seth from Skids 4 Kids swing through the city while on the burnout championship circuit. He and a whole slew of Aussies were planning on hitting Sick the Mag’s Powerfest at M1 the Friday before Roadkill Nights. After covering them ripping it up behind our shop, I made sure to be front and center for the big burnout competition.

Last year Roadkill Nights was held in downtown Pontiac, but it’s back at M1 and fully enclosed on the property, with the back straight standing as the strip for drag racing. My bestie Garrett Reed partnered up with 5 O’Clock garage to drop their Huricrate in Matt’s 2018 Demon for the Influencer Grudge match. But let’s get through Friday first.

The day started with the Dodge press conference, showcasing their new Dodge Charger Daytona and running through all the grudge match competitors builds. They were all given a HurriCrate twin-turbo inline 6 engine to build their vehicle around, and from their press release, “Seven drivers dropped Direct Connection HurriCrate engines in their build projects in a quest for ultimate Dodge bragging rights. In the final round, Morgan Evans took the lead off the starting line and never looked back, defeating the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon driven by Garrett Reed.”

After the reveals I followed Garrett back to the M1 garages to catch the 5’oclock crew crunching on their Demon, waiting for the beginnings of Sick the Mag’s Powerfest. We hung with our buddy Seth, Frosty representative of the Skids for Kids charity crew, and his Aussie burnout representatives a few weeks back where they tore up our makeshift burnyard next door. Just a little prep for the Powerfest Championship that was to commence that night at M1. I was ready to get some coverage pit-side, but first traversed the car show that was lining up.

Mrs. Lynchy and Kodie proudly repping

Steve had texted me earlier in the day to tell me about Tyler, who stopped by to pick up a set of wheels before he went to M1. Caught up with him and checked out his swapped Comanche that he plans on throwing that set on. Around the corner was our girl Kodie and her husband BJ of Acme Gas and Oil, bringing her twin turbo power stroke Galaxie Wagon laid out on our Ambassador Detroit Steel Wheels. She has an incredible story behind this build, you can check it out here on our YouTube. 

Tyler and his Comanche, can’t wait to see this all together!

Seth was posted up trackside in Frosty, pre-show prepping with pizza before hitting the pad with his Skids for Kids crew. Everyone of them competes in their own vehicle, promising an epic show anywhere that hosts the debauchery. I remember seeing pics of Frosty up on 3 wheels at the Freedom Factory, and had a ton of fun hearing first hand what in can do during our 1 on 1 photoshoot.

Tires blown off, as is tradition

Now, this was the World Burnout Championship hosted through Sick the Mag, so competition was upped to the highest caliper with the grand prize at $25,000. Our judges were Britney, LaLa, and Jo, representing the badass ladies that turn and burn here in the Motorcity. I’ll be honest, my main goal was to capture Seth’s run, with the added bonus of getting smoked out by our Australian friends. It was a ton of fun, Seth didn’t pull the overall victory but he did win the next night at Rockabilly Ruckus. With that, I slipped away to preserve some energy for Day 2 at M1, Roadkill Nights 2024.

The crew at 5’Oclock garage had all hands on deck finishing the Demon for Garretts first lap, and the competition was already dropping. Tom Bailey blew his 2001 Dodge Ramcharger testing the drag strip the night of Powerfest so he was out, along with Westen in his 1970 Plymouth Road Runner, Mike Musto in his Dodge Hornet GT, so that left Herman, Morgan, Allison and Garrett to go head to head.

Full breakdown of the 5 o’clock Demon here from the killer team at Dodge Garage: “This 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon is now powered by the twin turbocharged 3.0-liter Hurricane inline-six mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. Reed and his team replaced the stock turbochargers with a pair of units from HPT, which feed the engine through stainless piping from TiSS Fabrications. Pure Drivetrain Solutions built the 8HP75 transmission to provide quicker shifters and improved durability, along with installing a custom torque convertor. A Gulf Coast driveshaft sends the power to the rear wheels and Mickey Thompson rubbers put that power to the pavement. Anderson Composites provides carbon fiber doors, hood, trunk lid, grill, splitter and side skirts to bring down the overall weight of this 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon. Inside, the team is running an AEM digital dash system from Holley; and Summit Racing provided an array of odds and ends needed for the installing, including various fittings, harnesses, a manual steering rack and more.” https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/events/2024/08/grudge-match-gladiator-garrett-reed.html

Ren Stone approved

The Grudge Match cars remaining lined up, Herman vs. Allison and Garrett vs. Morgan in the semi-finals. 

I’ll say there were some friendly words with competitive intentions exchanged between at least Herman and Garrett. Hey, they are here to put on a good show, and they are professionals when it comes to putting out enthusiasm for car enthusiasts. We will never know who would have won that race, as Herman lost to Allison in his Demonology Challenger kart vs. her 1999 Dodge Dakota. After that the 5 o’clock crew and their posse gathered around the Demon for final safety checks and pep talks. Myself and Rose Brandow positioned with media, for support and the perfect shot.

Garrett and Morgan lined up, Demon vs.1987 Dodge D150, and the announcers really threw some smack talk Garretts way. It was like 30 seconds before they launched that I remember them saying something like “I’m going with Morgan on this one, she has more professional experience drag racing over Garrett,” (which she totally does and is amazing) “Garretts barely gotten any track time in the Demon”. I asked him later if he heard any of that, to which he stated that he couldn’t hear anything besides his heartbeat. 

3,2,1, GO! They both charged early, which I’m told qualifies as a fair race move, and Garrett pulled a lead early on winning the race. Rose was in tears beside me, and I knew from the whooping back on the track that 5 O’clock was losing their minds. Putting our builds to the test like that with successful results always gives that rich high when they don’t fall apart.

Let’s revel in that moment. A sweet, sweet victory that went against everything spoken mere seconds before Garrett hit the gas. Allison ended up taking home first, but it feels like that meme – wait, hold up I’ll show you.

Yea this is fun and accurate. We were all super excited for the win, it capped off the day and Allison deserved her win too. At the end, we all just celebrated and had a blast following the adrenalin rush. Garrett has some street cred in the no prep scene, 5 O’clock has a Hurricrate powered Demon, and the crowds appetite for chaos was satiated by the competitors. I’ll be back for next years events, and looking forward to seeing the next selected racers!