Network
They could scare the living daylights out of you if your driving down the road and see one come up fast on your bumper, but the new ‘12 Dodge Charger Pursuits are making a name for themselves beyond pulling people over. As we found out from Car Scoop, a few of the new police cruisers are being used to pace NASCAR races for the 2012 season.
As we told you back in September, Dodge has stepped up the game with their ‘12 Charger Pursuits. While the previous Charger police cars were a bit lacking in performance, performing worse than the Chevy Caprice police cruisers in Police Vehicle Evaluations tests, the new model actually set a new track record this year.
Powered by either a 292-horsepower Pentastar V6 engine with FlexFuel capabilities or a 370-horsepower HEMI V8, the new Charger delivers the fastest acceleration times in the police sedan segment, with the larger engine producing zero to 60mph times of 5.83 seconds and zero to 100mph times of just 13.65 seconds.
Obviously you wouldn’t want to see one these menacing beasts tracking you down but they do provide quite the show for NASCAR fans.
On March 3rd and 4th, the Charger Pursuit model made its inaugural pace car appearance at Phoenix International Raceway, pacing the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Sprint Cup Series races in full police livery. The car’s appearance highlighted Dodge’s 62nd year of NASCAR heritage.
The Charger Pursuits were also out in full force at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend, pacing the Kobalt Tools 400 and on deck for Dodge’s reveal of their ‘13 Sprint Cup Charger.
The ‘12 Charger Pursuits have plenty to ogle over, that is if you’re not in the back seat, and we can’t wait to see more of their presence on NASCAR circuits and patrolling streets all over the country.
