While European sports car brands such as Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Porsche enthralled buyers with their fast and beautiful sports cars for the better part of a century, America had its own recipe: sheer and unrestrained power. By the late ’50s and early ’60s, with the onset of muscle cars, America had firmly established itself as a dominant force in horsepower output. The oil crisis of the ’70s and ’80s may have put a damper on the horsepower wars in America, but it did nothing to stop them. By the early ’90s, America once again had some of the

most powerful sports cars in the world
– such as the Corvette ZR1, Dodge Viper GTS, and

the 650-hp Vector W8
. The rest is history.

Today, American sports cars are known for their

big-displacement V8 engines
and massive power outputs, so we decided to track down every one of America’s most powerful production sports cars and present them to you in an organized list from least to most powerful. All the specs we used come from the respective car manufacturers.

For this list, we focused only on mass-produced American production sports cars built by officially licensed car manufacturers. We excluded cars tuned by brands such as Hennessey Performance that were produced by other brands, such as the crazy 1700-hp Hennessey-tuned Dodge Demon. This is different from brands such as Shelby American, which is both a tuner and a manufacturer of limited-edition cars authorized by Ford to produce and sell its cars through Shelby dealerships with Shelby-specific branding.

10

2020 Shelby GT500 (S550): 760 HP

Specs

Ford

Despite its massive power, the Shelby GT500 is perhaps the most widely available and popular model on this list. When it debuted, it was the most powerful factory-produced Ford Mustang ever, and that’s thanks to the legendary

5.2-liter supercharged Predator V8
– an engine that Ford now puts in its record-breaking GTD.

The 2.65L Eaton roots-type supercharger is mounted inverted in the engine bay to lower the car’s center of gravity for more optimal cornering. It also gets a variety of features to make it a true street-legal track weapon, such as the adaptive MagneRide suspension, 7-speed Tremec DCT, and Recaro racing seats.

9

2025 Ford Mustang GTD: 815 HP

Specs

Ford

With the range-topping Shelby GT500 discontinued after 2022, Ford wanted to build a new Mustang to rule them all – one that’s more powerful and capable than any before it. It found its car in the new Mustang GTD, which features the same 5.2-liter Predator V8 from the GT500 but supercharged to a hair-raising 815 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. The engine spins at 7,650 RPM.

To truly prove it’s the fastest and most capable Mustang on the track, Ford recently took the Mustang GTD to the Nürburgring racetrack in Germany. Its goal was to show the world this is the fastest American production car around a track as well as beat the Germans on their own turf. It did exactly that,

lapping the ‘Ring in just 6:57.8
, which is faster than a Porsche 911 GT3, Corvette C8 Z06, and even the Viper ACR. The GTD also uses active aero and carbon bodywork while carbon-ceramic brakes give it ultimate stopping power. Deliveries start in 2025.

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8

Shelby Super Snake: 830+ HP

Specs

Ford

Shelby had already unleashed a Super Snake model on the market in 2021 as the ultimate special-edition version of the Mustang to commemorate Carroll Shelby’s 98th birthday, and hence only 98 examples were produced. In 2024, the brand created a brand-new version of the Super Snake with an updated exterior body, a claimed 5 horsepower extra over the original, and a $159,000 starting price tag. It looks truly menacing.

Shelby Super Snakes are supposed to be a tuned Mustang just like the original 1967 Super Snake, so the car doesn’t use the GT500’s 5.2-liter Predator V8 but instead relies on a tuned version of the

Mustang’s trusty Coyote
. That’s not to say it lacks power. The Super Snake is even more powerful than the new Mustang GTD thanks to a massive whipple supercharger. It also gets a lowered suspension and custom Shelby leather upholstery and badging.

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7

2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon: 840 HP

Specs

Dodge

The Mustang GTD and Shelby Super Snake are both very powerful, but Dodge had already made a more powerful production muscle car six years prior. While the SRT Demon can’t match the GTD around a racetrack, it will run circles around it in a drag race. Poor use of idiom aside, the SRT Demon was the fastest and most powerful muscle car of its time. Running on E85, it has an officially recognized quarter-mile time of 9.65 seconds at 140 mph.

The Challenger SRT Demon is the first production car with the unique TransBrake feature, which locks the entire transmission as a form of launch control to help its acceleration in a drag race. Dodge even offered an optional passenger seat delete for extra weight reduction and performance.

6

2022 Shelby GT500KR: 900 HP

Specs

Ford

In 1968, the KR or “King of the Road” was the pinnacle among all Shelby Mustangs. That’s why, in 2022, Shelby American decided to bring back the nameplate to both celebrate the company’s 60th birthday and as the perfect swansong model for the outgoing GT500.

The Mustang GTD is fast, but the 2022 GT500KR remains the single craziest production Ford Mustang ever built. It pairs the 5.2-liter Predator V8 with a mammoth-sized 3.2L Whipple supercharger for roughly 900 hp. Only 225 units have been sold worldwide, each carrying a special Shelby badging and interior trim, along with a $127,895 price tag.

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5

Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170: 1,025 HP

Specs

Dodge

Nearing the top of our list is a fully-fledged drag-focused muscle car – the only one of its kind. A worthy sendoff to the Challenger,

the SRT Demon 170 is the craziest muscle car
officially sold by any manufacturer ever, and the fact that you can get this 1025-hp hypercar-killer for less than $100,000 (for now) is a testament to Dodge’s dedication to the muscle car ethos.

The Demon 170 uses the same old 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8, but it runs on E85 ethanol. It also comes with standard wide drag radials and drag-focused suspension. As a result, the Demon 170 boasts the quickest 0-60 mph time in the world – even faster than

AWD electric hypercars like the Rimac Nevera
. Its official quarter-mile time is 8.9 seconds.

4

2025 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 C8: 1064 HP

Specs

Chevrolet

In the ’90s, Car and Driver dubbed the ZR1 “the Corvette from hell,” but this nickname was never more appropriate than now. While the C7 ZR1 was more powerful than most Ferraris and Lamborghinis of its time at 755 hp, for the C8, Chevy figured competing with supercars was no longer enough for the ‘Vette. The new C8 ZR1 features a sickening 1064 hp being sent solely to the rear two wheels – both wrapped in 345mm tires, mind you – and has more power than a Bugatti Veyron or Koenigsegg Agera at about 1/10 the price (official pricing hasn’t been revealed yet).

The C8 ZR1 achieves this thanks to two turbochargers boosting its 5.5-liter LT7 V8, which also happens to spin at 8,000 RPM for good measure. The C8 ZR1 still hasn’t officially hit the market, but Chevy did display what it can do when it achieved an

official top speed of 233 mph
.

The car community is now eagerly waiting for Chevy to take the mid-engined ZR1 around the Nürburgring to see just what an extra 250 hp over the front-engined Mustang GTD can do.

3

Hennessey Venom GT: 1,244 HP

Specs

Hennessey

Debuting in 2010, the Venom GT is Hennessey’s first proprietary hypercar built and sold by the brand. Its incredible poise and performance also helped put Hennsssey on the map as an expert in automotive performance and tuning, preceding more powerful hypercars like the Bugatti Chiron by more than 5 years. In 2014, it set an official top speed record of 270.49 mph, becoming the world’s fastest production car. If the car looks familiar to you, that’s because Hennessey built the Venom GT in a modified Lotus Elise body.

The engine it uses isn’t Hennssey’s but instead the legendary 7.0-liter LS7 V8 from a Corvette Z06 – the last engine of its kind. Thanks to the extensive use of carbon in the chassis and most of its body panels, the Venom GT is incredibly light and boasts exactly 1 hp per kg (2.2 lbs) of weight, helping it clear a 1/4 mile in less than 10 seconds straight out of the factory. Sadly, Hennessey could only make 13 examples and priced each one at $1.2 million – but it was neither the last nor most powerful hypercar the brand would make.

2

SSC Tuatara: 1,750 HP

Specs

SSC

The successor to the mid-2000s record-breaking SSC –

the Ultimate Aero
, the SSC Tuatara gained notoriety for its incredible 316-mph speed record attempt in October 2020. While this record was never officially validated, it put the Tuatara on the map, marking it as one of the most impressive hypercars to look out for. Its ridiculously aerodynamic spaceship-like design achieves mostly the same goal, and it all comes together thanks to Tutara’s 5.9-liter twin-turbo V8 producing a ridiculous 1750 hp on E85.

This is the highest-torque combustion engine in the world, with a staggering 1280 lb-ft spinning the rear wheels. It’s also fairly lightweight and weighs less than a Subaru BRZ at 2750 lbs thanks to the use of carbon fiber and composite materials in the chassis. SSC will only ever produce 100 units of this hypercar, each priced at almost $2 million.

1

Hennessey Venom F5: 1,817 HP

Specs

Hennessey

Hennessey’s latest and greatest hypercar, the Venom F5 was borne out of the brand’s single ultimate goal of becoming the first production car to break the 300-mph barrier. It’s named after the F5 tornado, the single strongest tornado classification, symbolizing how the car relentlessly builds power as it swallows up terrain. Hennessey only plans on ever making 24 units of the car.

1817 HP is frankly insane for a fully combustion-powered car – the highest power output for any ICE car ever – courtesy of a twin-turbo 6.6-liter “Fury” big block V8.

The Fury is both the last and first of its kind, depending on how you look at it. Taming all that power is a 7-speed automated manual transmission. While CEO John Hennessey confirmed that simulations show the car is good for at least 328 mph, the car hasn’t officially broken the top speed record yet.