No Boring Sedan Here: K&N's President Drives A Tricked-Out Challenger SRT Hellcat

This 2016 Dodge Challenger Hellcat is owned by K&N's President

If you just catch a glimpse of Tom McGann’s Dodge Challenger Hellcat, you might be forgiven for thinking that you’ve just spotted a rare surviving Chrysler Direct Connection kit car from the early 1970s. Just the body wrap gives off the impression of a Late Model Sportsman of the Jimmy Carter era.

Back then, while Chrysler ruled NASCAR’s superspeedways, Chevrolet all but owned local short tracks. To make a dent in Chevy’s market share in a big hurry, Chrysler developed an entire short track car with Petty Enterprises, who also sold the kit to racers. It didn’t produce the impact that was intended and wasn’t given time to grow. About that time, Chrysler shut down virtually every program as the company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Few of those original kit cars survive today.

But in spirit, these cars live on in Challengers like the Hellcat owned by Tom McGann, who also happens to be President of K&N Engineering. It’s fitting that the world leader in performance air filtration is run by a true automotive enthusiast.

The number "52" on the doors of the car represent K&N's 52 years in business in 2016

Tom’s Hellcat was on display at the 2016 SEMA Show, chock full of the kind of improvements most enthusiasts would make if they woke to find a Hellcat in their garage.

The two-tone exterior with orange and red accents in K&N colors is the work of Brian Wenzel of Frontier Graphics in Denver, Colorado. Brian’s company has wrapped show cars, race cars, vehicles for local businesses, and even fleets like the Subarus for the Nordica ski team. By the way, Tom McGann has split his career between performance automotive and extreme winter sports, so it’s clear he’s a guy who likes things that go fast.

An exterior feature that’s pretty hard to miss are the meatballs on the driver’s and passenger’s doors containing the number 52. While most of the time a number on the side of a street car makes your mind drift back to the General Lee, these numbers have a far greater significance than simply copying what was painted on the side of a TV stunt car. The 52 on McGann's Hellcat represents the fact that 2016 was K&N's 52nd year in business.

Orange-trimmed Savini wheels and Eibach Pro-Kit springs help complete the look of the 2016 Hellcat

Upfront, the Dodge hood has been replaced by a gorgeous carbon-fiber unit from Anderson Composites with enlarged cold air intake and hot air vent ports.

Connecting car to tire are a set of Savini SV25-S wheels. Tom picked these 20-inch forged beauties out of 491 different wheels Savini has available for the Challenger. Forged, with a carbon fiber lip, the wheels are finished in black with orange accents on the spokes – a subtle nod to the orange that has appeared for many years in the K&N logo.

To eliminate that annoying gap between the top of the tires and the fender lip, a set of Eibach Pro-Kit progressively-wound performance springs, lowering the Hellcat 1.1 inches in the front, and 1.2 inches in the rear. A side-benefit to lowering the car is that it makes the Hellcat a little more aerodynamic, potentially increasing its top speed on the track.

A K&N cold air intake system boosts output by nearly 40 horsepower at the rear wheels

And of course what would be under the hood of the car of the President of K&N other than a K&N 69 Series cold air intake system. The K&N 69-2550TTK air intake system is a free-flowing, mandrel-bent aluminum tube air induction system designed to fit select 6.2L Dodge Challenger, Charger SRT, and of course Hellcat models. The restrictive factory air filter and air intake housing are completely replaced by the K&N system, which was designed to dramatically reduce air flow turbulence. The payoff is large with the Hellcat – the 69-2550TTK adds a whopping 38.95 horsepower estimated increase at the rear wheels. In addition to more power, the system even further improves the engine sound of the Hellcat with more aggressive and deeper acoustics during acceleration.

So should you find yourself on the north side of Riverside, California, on a weekday and spot a lowered Hellcat with the number 52 on the doors, that’s not the loading dock crew on a taco run, it’s the President of K&N Engineering off to a business meeting where his business is performance.