Come gather round people, wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown,
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone.

If your time to you is worth savin’, then you better start swimming, or you’ll sink like a stone, for the times they are a-changin’.

When Bob Dylan sang about the winds of change fifty years ago, he had no idea where America’s trajectory would take us in the early part of the 21st century. Our world today is so upside down that hippie’s smoking pot at Woodstock is like a kid’s tea party. It’s so crazy that Dylan sold off his music catalog for around $250 million dollars in 2020 and jumped off the crazy train into retirement.

The auto industry is on the cusp of tumultuous change as well. Like darkness after dusk, the electrification of the automobile is coming and there’s no stopping it. Stellantis has teased an electric Challenger and has announced the end of the HEMI engine in favor of a twin-turbo straight-six.

If there was ever a time to get internal combustion Mopar muscle, it is NOW. There is still time for us hardcore petrolheads to get the last modern, old-school muscle cars. Snap up the last internal combustion engines, with over 100 years of innovation and refinement, or forever hold your peace. The last hurrah for the ICE Challenger and Charger is the model year 2023.

Dodge just announced its Chief Donut Maker contest and we can’t help thinking it’s a wake for the end of the muscle car as we know it.

The Dodge brand brings the Chief Donut Maker competition to the finish line.

According to Dodge, “Dodge has named the top 10 candidates seeking the greatest automotive title in the world – Chief Donut Maker. Applicants were asked to show, in a short video (maximum length of two minutes), that they embody the spirit of the founding Dodge Brothers. All the details about the applicants can be found at DodgeGarage.com.

“With over 173,500 applications to review, it wasn’t easy, but we’ve selected our top 10 candidates for the Dodge brand’s chief donut maker position,” said Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis. “Now the rubber will literally hit the road, as we take our finalists to Radford Racing School to begin the four-week competition that will ultimately determine our final two candidates, with our chief donut maker to be named on HEMI Day, April 26.”

Here’s the good news. Think of a new-age Challenger with performance significantly better than today’s car. That would require a brand new Chief Donut Maker contest and continue the tradition of tire-melting Pentastar performance. In the meantime stay tuned to find out who the big cheese ICE Donut Maker is on April 26th.

Be sure and check out Dodge’s “Never Lift” Business Plan, the muscle car brand’s two-year look down the road. The future is bright.