The Dodge Super Bee is coming back, kinda sorta, as FCA’s NHRA-approved, drag-racer-in-a-box Challenger ‘Angry Bee’ package

When it comes to Mopar, I’m basically an admirer from afar. The last time I owned a Chrysler product was in the late 1980s.

Yet there are two classic nameplates that I’ve been longing to see return in a package that truly lives up to the Mopar muscle-car heritage: the Dodge Super Bee and the Plymouth Road Runner.

Now, it’s one down, one to go.

The Super Bee is back, and it’s packing an angry sting. On Tuesday, FCA announced that the built-for-drag-racing-yet-street-legal Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320—marked on the front fender, instrument panel, headlamps, instrument gauge cluster, and key fob with a new “Angry Bee” interpretation of the legendary Dodge Super Bee logo—is now arriving at FCA dealerships in the U.S.

FCA said the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Back recently received the green light from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to be modified for NHRA Stock and Super Stock Sportsman class competition for the 2019 season, with the caveat that “Contestants intending to compete at an NHRA event must meet any and all rules and regulations for the category they intend to enter.”

Here are the details from FCA’s press release about the NHRA competition categories for which the Angry Bee is qualified:

The Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 is approved to be modified to race in hotly contested NHRA Stock Eliminator and Super Stock competition. In Stock Eliminator, the Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 fits directly into the “B” Stock category, with competitors able to move up and down to run in the “A” or “C” Stock classes.

The Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 can compete in the SS/FA class in Super Stock, but is also eligible for other specific classifications such as SS/EA or SS/GA. Grassroots NHRA Sportsman racers will have more flexibility and opportunities to compete and win in a variety of Stock and Super Stock categories by adjusting the NHRA minimum vehicle weight.

FCA also says the Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 can compete without modification in events organized by the National Muscle Car Association, “making it a true street/strip vehicle.”

Fittingly for vehicle designed for both drag racing and street use, FCA named the 1320 package for the number of feet (1,320) in a quarter mile.

According to Jim Wilder, FCA’s vehicle development manager for the Challenger and Charger SRT programs, the Angry Bee incorporates “a lot of the kit from the Demon.”

It’s powered by a 392 HEMI V-8 engine, delivering 485 horsepower and 475 lb.-ft. of torque. FCA claims that the showroom-stock version is “the fastest naturally-aspirated, street-legal muscle car available,” clocking in with an 11.7 second quarter mile at 115 mph.

The package will set you back an additional $3,995 over the $38,995 for the 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack, plus $1,595 for the “mandatory” automatic transmission and a destination charge of $1,495.

A manual transmission option is not available.

To lighten weight for competition, the standard package comes with a driver’s seat only. But if you need your angry bee to double as an angry grocery-getter that can accommodate passengers, you can add the front passenger seat and rear seat for just a buck more, according to FCA’s announcement.

“With the new 2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack 1320 hitting showrooms, we know it’s just a short time before the ‘Angry Bee’ is buzzing the quarter-mile in NHRA and NMCA competition,” said Steve Beahm, FCA North America’s head of passenger car brands. “The 1320 brings the drag racing technology we launched on the limited-production Demon and pairs it with the proven 392 HEMI engine to create a blank canvas for the serious grassroots drag racer who may have one car that needs to do double duty—both at the drag strip and on the street.”

Now that we can have the satisfaction of seeing the Dodge Super Bee back with its new angry vibe, once big question remains: can the Road Runner be far behind?

Plymouth, of course, is gone.

But there’s no good reason why the Plymouth Road Runner couldn’t come back as a special package for the Challenger. Or they could reincarnate it as a Chrysler Road Runner. It would be long overdue—especially since the Road Runner had such an anticlimactic end as an under-powered trim package for the 1976-1980 Plymouth Volaré. Bringing it back with the kind of muscle FCA has been packing into their performance models lately would restore the Road Runner mark to its rightful place.