Pass of the day on December 9, 2022, Max Nichols’ monster Dodge Magnum broke To get a little more power, he swapped the supercharger pulley to add more boost and headed out for one final run for the day. He made some tuning changes and hit the track with about an hour left of track time and he ran an 8.48 with enough time left for one more pass. For reference, at that point in time, the world record quarter-mile time for a Dodge Magnum was held by Gary Rhudy/Nate Jenkins with an 8.439 at 160.33, so in running an 8.60, Nichols had the record in sight. His first run off of the trailer was an 8.60. On December 9, Max Nichols and his Dodge Magnum headed to Famoso for some testing in the cool winter air. For those of you who aren’t familiar with how 8 th-mile times compare to quarter-mile times, a time of 5.60 in the 8 th would likely lead to a quarter-mile time in the 8s, so after that outing to Irwindale, Nichols was feeling good about running in the 8s on the longer track. On his first trip out with the current build, he ran a 9.15 at 150 and after some tuning changes, the Dragnum ran a 5.60 at 128 at Irwindale’s 8th-mile track. Inspired by the Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, he calls this current iteration of his Dodge wagon the Dragnum and while still being street legal, Nichols has reset the world record for the quickest quarter-mile time by a Magnum – laying down a stunning 8.344 at 164.69 miles per hour – but as was the case with the 392, getting the best numbers from the 431-cubic-inch Gen 3 HEMI ® engine took a bit of work.Īfter starting the build in 2021, Montague and the team at SpankinTime Motorsports finished Max Nichols’ Dodge Magnum SRT8 earlier this year. When Max Nichols was planning the new build, he wanted his Magnum to be “a monster at the strip, but still street-capable”. It was around this time that Nichols decided that after four years of tuning, tweaking and perfecting the first build to get into the 9s, it was time for a new build. He then drove this Magnum over a thousand miles during the Race Week Drag and Drive event, stopping at Thunder Valley, Texas Motorplex, Tulsa Raceway Park and Mid-America Dragway to compete among many of the quickest street cars in the country. In 2021, Max Nichols broke into the 9s for the first time, getting into the 9.80s at Famoso. At that point, this Magnum was no longer used for daily driving duties with the kids in the back seat, but it was and still is licensed, insured and driven on the street today. To address that issue, Carlin Fabrications in Redlands, California, installed an 8.50-certified cage.
While running in the 11s and 10s, this Magnum was still a daily-driven family hauler, but as he got near the 9-second range, safety became a concern. First time out with that setup, Nichols ran in the low-11s, but it didn’t take him long to work his way down into the 10-second range, racing at Famoso Dragstrip and Irwindale Dragstrip. The two discussed Nichols’ goals and they decided on a build that included increasing the engine displacement from 345 to 392 cubic inches along with adding a 2.9-liter Whipple supercharger. Safe to say it has a bit more in it.When Nichols began the journey of modifying his 2006 Dodge Magnum SRT8, he met with Adam Montague of SpankinTime Motorsports – a shop which has produced many quick modern Mopar ® vehicles. at 94 mph) that the announcer thought the engine blew. In fact, in the one time the Magnum has been down a dragstrip, it created such a smoke show on its way down track (a 15.4 e.t. Now it would tear the tire loose at will. Before, he could stand on the brakes and floor the throttle and not break the tire loose. It was 1981 by then, and the newfound power and increased handling was so noticeable that David started driving the Magnum again and racked up another 3,100 miles. The lean-burn system was also removed, and those cool custom painted Western wheels were added. To uncork the choked-down 400, he also swapped the exhaust manifolds for ones from a '69 440 car and custom-built a 2.5-inch dual exhaust with hand-formed chrome tips. He had just resolved to fix a few other factory shortcomings, such as installing larger-diameter torsion bars and front sway bar.
He still loved it, and he wasn't totally hands-off during that time.
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