Once upon a time, America loved big, powerful, V8-powered sedans. One could hardly imagine driving a small Japanese import in favor of a massive sedan, wagon, or coupe, though those days faded as fuel prices rose and quality slid. American automakers have made a big comeback though, as have big, powerful rear-wheel drive sedans, with GM committing to such a car for the first time since the short-lived Pontiac G8 was strangled in its crib.

Alas, the $44,595 Chevy SS has few options and more more than 4,000 pounds for its 420 horsepower LS3 to haul around. If you really want to get all the performance a car like the Chevy SS is capable of, you have to turn to tuners like Hennessey Performance Engineering. After some time in HPE’s shop, the 2014 Chevy SS can turn 11-second quarter miles all day.

The trick is Hennessey’s HPE600 package, which sees a supercharger strapped to the top of the LS3 engine, along with supporting mods like a retuned ECU and upgraded fuel system. This setup is good for about 600 horsepower at the flywheel, and helped the Chevy SS to top out at about 163 MPH on the recently-opened Texas toll road.

This package can run on 93 octane fuel directly out of the pump, though it did have drag radials equipped for its most recent run down the drag strip. Those tires, as well as the HPE600 kit, pushed the Chevy SS down the drag strip in just 11.84 seconds, with a trap speed of about 117 MPH. As lovely as all that is though, it’s still the sound that sells us on the Hennessey-tuned Chevy SS. How about you?