If you’re familiar with the last 10 years of record-breaking Dodge muscle cars, you know of Tim Kuniskis. Kuniskis, a former racing driver and Dodge CEO, is retiring after 32 years of working with Mopars. However, this was no ordinary auto industry career. No, Kuniskis made his mark by fathering the “Brotherhood of Muscle,” including the now-iconic Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and SRT Demon.

Tim Kuniskis is set to retire from the helm of Dodge after over three decades of breaking records

For the last 10 or so years, Dodge has been obsessed with breaking records. And then it would break those records. Every time Dodge did so, there was a familiar voice and presence: Tim Kuniskis. Well, after nearly 32 years of working with Dodge and RAM, Kuniskis is hanging up his hat. A recent Stellantis announcement confirmed that sales head Matt McAlear will succeed Kuniskis as the new Dodge CEO. 

I was at the Los Angeles Auto Show with a bright-red, pre-production Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. Despite the eye-catching Viper on the adjacent platform, muscle car crowds could tell the Hellcat was something special. Something out of the norm. And the numbers confirmed it. 

With 707 horsepower on tap, the SRT Hellcat was the nuclear option follow-up to Ford’s shrieking 2013 Shelby GT500. You guessed it, Kuniskis was the man to explain the apparent lunacy behind the 4,500-lb, tire-roasting Challenger model.

Over the years since then, Mopar fanatics watched Tim Kuniskis introduce everything from the 840-horsepower, wheel-standing SRT Demon to the next-generation Charger Daytona EV. Notably, Kuniskis is retiring one year after revealing the most powerful production muscle car, the SRT Demon 170. The Demon 170, a cocktail-swilling drag car, produces 1,025 horsepower from its race-fuel-fed supercharged 6.2L V8. But it all started with the man behind the Mopar madness.