The 2020 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak - Mopar's analogue to the likes of purpose-built drag racing machines like the Ford Mustang Cobra Jet and Chevrolet COPO Camaro - garnered lots of attention when it was revealed at SEMA 2019 in Las Vegas. That's not all that easy to do, when you consider the caliber and variety of crazy, ambitious modified and custom-built cars and trucks that display there.

But while scores of avid drag racers were, no doubt, eagerly waiting in the wings to get their hands on one of the 50 Drag Paks slated to be built, they ought to brace for some bad news.

According to Mopar Insiders, the Dodge Challenger Drag Pak has been postponed until 2021, due to the fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic. Dodge is reportedly continuing work on the car even while the majority of its office staff works remotely, but it won't be enough to bring the hardcore dragster to market on schedule.

To be honest, we're surprised the company is devoting any attention to it at all at the moment. The hyper-focused race car is far from street legal, although we sure would like to take its blown 354-ci Hemi out on the road.

Just to give you an idea of how singularly focused the 2021 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak is: the car's supercharged 5.8-liter V8 is backed by a three-speed T400 racing transmission, and it boasts chassis-integrated wheelie bars and a parachute mount. It's also got a Racetech seat and a roll cage rated for quarter-mile sprints as quick as 7.5 seconds.

Yes, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon was built for the drag strip too, but the new Dodge Challenger Drag Pak makes it look like a fuel-sipping economy car. We can't wait to see it in action in various NHRA and NMCA events.