If Sunday morning soreness is a definitive gauge of Saturday night fun — an entertainment Richter scale, if you will — then the Dodge Rocks Gas Monkey Live party in Dallas set a record.
The Dodge brand celebrated its 100th anniversary in the Big D with the brashness and in-your-face performance that have put a Challenger or Charger SRT Hellcat on the wish list of thousands of car people this year.
The odor of the day was burned rubber! More than 2,000 members of Dodge Nation — some driving from as far away as Massachusetts and California and Manitoba, Canada – filled the parking lot of Gas Monkey Live. That’s the newest part of businessman and entrepreneur (and Dodge pitchman) Richard Rawlings’ business empire that includes the garage featured on his reality TV show, and a restaurant.
Fans willingly waited in line for their turn to ride shotgun in a Dodge Viper SRT as it slid through a drift course as one end of the lot. Then they got back in line for a rapid ride-along in a Challenger SRT Hellcat on a temporary drag strip.
Sunny skies and temps in the mid-60s made perfect viewing conditions for the more than 850 cars that filled the concert venue’s parking lots — a rainbow-colored sea of modern cars peppered with classic Mopar muscle. Want a photo op? The Dodge Brothers — John and Horace — roamed the grounds and posed for plenty of pictures. A local band provided the sound track, and Rawlings and friends entertained the crowded and showered them with special event t-shirts launched from the stage.
The icing on the cake (other than the massive Dodge ice sculpture sitting on the bar)? Legendary rockers Motley Crue played a private show. Dodge is sponsoring the band’s The Final Tour: All Bad Things Must Come To An End and members Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx stormed into the Gas Monkey Live lot in a quartet of tire-smoking Challenger SRT Hellcats – then rocked the packed house – the smallest venue they’ve played since their early days — with an earth-shaking set of their greatest hits including “Kickstart My Heart.”
It was quite the anniversary celebration. Every Dodge owner we talked with doesn’t want to wait another 100 years to do it again – they’re ready to go again next year.
We agree.
