Within every major car brand, there is always a dedicated core of performance enthusiasts working to leave their mark on the cars that come off the assembly line. Over the years, goals and requirements change, but always these engineers and enthusiasts work to make cars better and faster.

Red Letter Dodge reminds us that Chrysler’s Street and Racing Technology program, better known as SRT, owes its humble roots to the Dodge Neon SRT-4 . Since then, nine different automobiles have borne the SRT badge, and it makes us wonder what’s next.

2002 was a strange year for performance fans. GM killed the Camaro, making the Mustang the muscle car king, and Dodge finally reentered the performance arena with the Neon SRT-4. This turbocharged, front-wheel drive import killer was a far cry from the muscle cars of Chrysler’s past, but that soon changed when the Charger, Challenger, and 300C came on the scene.

SRT is arguably the craziest of the in-house tuning divisions among the Big Three. Ford’s SVT has done just a handful of vehicles (the Focus, Mustang, and variants of the F-150) and GM seemed ready to slap an SS badge on anything. But SRT went with the big guns on anything they put their badge on, including a Viper-powered truck, and the SRT8 Magnum station wagon.

All of this sprang from a simple, turbocharged Neon. With Fiat at the helm of Chrysler now, it’s hard to say what future role SRT will play in product development. We doubt the tuning division will go away anytime soon, but we wonder; what other cars with SRT conquer?