Alex Hays’ 1971 Dodge Demon Packs 1,492 RWHP Of Turbo LSX

There are cars you buy because the timing is right, and then there are cars that seem to make you work for the privilege of owning them. Alex Hays’ 1971 Dodge Demon definitely falls into the latter category. This MoPar led Alex on a lengthy chase that would have been worthwhile for just the car alone. But owning a Demon also brought back memories that stretched all the way to his childhood.

Alex chased the bright orange A-body across three states, through multiple owners, and even sold a prized 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE trying to make the deal happen. More than once, it looked like the Demon was gone for good. Then, in late 2023, a timely Facebook Marketplace discovery by Alex’s father, Pat, finally put him in the right place at the right time.

A Demon From The Past

Hays first spotted the 1971 Demon for sale in Maryland in 2023. The car had been built over several years by AJ Trott and his grandfather, but with Trott and his wife expecting a child, it was time for the Dodge to find a new home. Unfortunately, Alex wasn’t in a position to buy the car.

Normally, that would have been the end of the story. But this particular Dodge was different. Alex grew up in Garden City, Michigan, where his father, Pat, owned a 1972 Demon powered by a Koffel’s Place-built 440 with B1 cylinder heads and nitrous. This wasn’t some weekend showpiece, either. Pat’s Demon ran mid-nine-second passes in the early 1990s while seeing plenty of street duty.

“I always had a spot for A-bodies in my heart. I recall many nights watching my dad work on his Demon in the one-car garage where we lived at the time.” — Alex Hays

Some of those memories involved considerably more excitement than wrenching in the garage. Alex remembers riding along Telegraph Road to Detroit Dragway, where his father’s friend would watch him while Pat made passes. He even remembers seeing the Dodge stand on its rear bumper before a broken driveshaft brought the fun to an abrupt end at the 60-foot mark. Pat’s Demon eventually disappeared, and despite Alex’s efforts, he hasn’t been able to locate it. So when this orange ’71 resurfaced, walking away wasn’t particularly easy.

The Chase Begins

Eventually, Alex discovered the Demon had made its way to Virginia, where its new owner had raced it a handful of times without changing much of the combination. He confirmed it was indeed the same car and attempted to work out a trade. No dice.

Determined to finally buy the car, he sold his 2018 Camaro ZL1 1LE to raise the cash, a decision his wife, Stephanie, apparently still enjoys reminding him about. Then the Demon disappeared again. By the time the Camaro was sold in late October, its owner had traded the Dodge, along with another car, to an Indiana dealer in exchange for a Chevy II. Alex went back to searching for another older car he could turn into a drag-and-drive machine. Then Dad came through.

Around Thanksgiving, Pat spotted the Demon on Facebook Marketplace in Indianapolis. Alex immediately contacted the seller, pieced together how the car had gotten there, and offered what the previous owner had been asking. A few days later, the phone rang, and the seller said: “Come get it!” Pat grabbed his open trailer and headed south from Detroit while Alex drove north from South Carolina. The two met at the seller’s shop, loaded the Demon, and finally ended a chase that had started months earlier. “Finally, after chasing this car since 2023, I had it home in my shop,” Hays says. “I was ecstatic, to say the least.”

Old MoPar, Modern LS Power

Now here’s where things get especially interesting for LSX readers. Finished in Audi Glut Orange with satin-black accents, the Demon still has all the old-school A-body attitude you could ask for. Under the hood, however, there’s no 340, 440, or Hemi. Instead, this coupe packs 388 cubic inches of turbocharged LSX!

Jonathan “Grubb Worm” Atkins of JA Competition Engines assembled the short-deck LSX combination using a Manley billet crankshaft, Oliver rods, Wiseco pistons, and PRC cylinder heads. A Forced Inductions 88 mm S400 turbocharger supplies the air. The result? A rather healthy 1,492 horsepower at the rear wheels. At that point, anyone complaining about an LS engine being in a MoPar seems a little silly.

Backing the boosted LSX is a Coan Turbo 400 and lockup converter, which sends power rearward to a Performance Fab 9-inch. Devin Vanderhoof at HCR Innovations handled the wiring around a Holley Dominator ECU, while Peter Harrell at HED took care of the tuning. In other words, this isn’t an LS-swapped Demon built merely to irritate MoPar purists. The combination was put together to work.

Built To Use All 1,492 Horses

Of course, making nearly 1,500 horsepower at the tires is only useful if the rest of the car can survive it. The Demon already had an 8.50-certified cage completed by Jason Brazzel at BPF when Alex bought it, while Matt Smith at Performance Fab continues refining the chassis.

Up front, an RMS AlterKtion K-member and double A-arm suspension work with Santhuff double-adjustable shocks. Out back, Performance Fab built a triangulated four-link, again using Santhuff dampers. Strange four-piston steel race brakes, at all four corners, are responsible for slowing everything back down; and considering how quickly this Demon should eventually travel, that’s probably a good thing.

Polished and chrome Keizer Veelvoud wheels provide a nice contrast against the orange bodywork. Seventeen-inch wheels handle front-end duties, while massive 15×13-inch double-beadlocks reside out back. Hoosier frontrunners and DR3 275 drag radials put the hardware to pavement.

More Than Just Some Race Car

Alex already owns a considerably more dedicated race car: a 1992 Fox-body Mustang built around radial-tire competition. The problem is that running it requires a crew, planning, and getting everyone’s schedules aligned just to go testing. As he puts it, the Mustang sits more than he’d like.

The Demon gives him something different. He wanted an older car that could actually be driven, raced locally, and eventually used for drag-and-drive events without turning every outing into a military operation. As a Keizer Racing Wheels dealer, it also gives him another development vehicle to showcase the company’s hardware.

Despite the horsepower and race-car hardware, Alex describes the Demon as a genuine driver. “It’s a true driver, doesn’t overheat, doesn’t burn oil, and rides relatively well,” he says. There’s also something about driving old American iron that even a 1,492-rwhp engine can’t replace. Alex says people regularly stop him at gas stations to ask about the car, something that’s simply part of the experience when you’re cruising around in a bright orange 1971 Demon.

Chasing Fours

The Demon hasn’t shown everything it’s capable of yet. On Alex’s first real rip, the car clicked off a 5.22-second eighth-mile pass despite the run being aborted. On the following attempt, the anti-roll bar broke. He believes there’s considerably more left once he gets the chassis sorted and can keep the nose where it belongs. “The car should go deep in the fours once I can keep the front end down and put some power to it.”

The plan is to put those street-car credentials to use with local Thursday-night shootout list racing near his South Carolina home. He’s also targeting the Southeast Street-N-Yeet drag-and-drive event in October. 

That’s arguably the coolest part of this whole combination. Yes, it’s a classic MoPar with an LS under the hood, which will undoubtedly upset someone on the internet. But it’s also an old-school muscle car making nearly 1,500 horsepower at the tires that Alex can actually climb into, drive around town, take to the track, and enjoy without needing to assemble a pit crew.

After chasing this Demon through multiple owners and halfway across the country, Alex finally has the A-body he’s wanted since watching his father’s car terrorize Detroit streets and dragstrips as a kid. Now he just has to convince those 1,492 horses to keep the front tires somewhere near the pavement.