Written By Tony Thacker
June 2020 • By Nestor Cabrera and Tony Thacker
Two things caught our eye, well three actually, the two burgers warming on the blower and the attractive lady changing wheels. I didn’t know her husband Andrew Weiss but I remarked that maybe she needed some help but the lady quickly chimed in, “I don’t need no help.” And so it began.
Tatiana was born in Beirut to a Lebanese mother and Italian father and when she was three the family moved to Belgium and then to Greece for another three years. Then it was back to Lebanon where Tatiana began driving at the age of 14 saying, “I grew up watching the Rallye du Liban (Rally of Lebanon) and Grand Prix de Monaco (Monaco Grand Prix), and I’ve always liked driving fast in the mountains. Hopefully, practice makes perfect because she crashed three cars before she was 18. Maybe that’s why the family immigrated to the US.
Once in the US she got into the real estate business and while attending law school met husband Andrew, who shares her passion for fast cars and now serves as her manager, support staff, pit crew and errand boy—he’s not allowed to change the wheels though.
In 2017, the couple were on a trip and rented a Dodge Challenger Hemi that inspired Tatiana to buy a 2018 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack with 485 hp in the spring of 2019. By the summer she’d discovered her local 1/8-mile track at Irwindale, CA, saying, “I was instantly hooked. It felt like I had finally found my ‘happy,’ as though my entire life had led me to racing the drag strip… I kid you not.”
Tatiana nicknamed her Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye ‘GROWLER’ saying, “It’s the car's personality, you mash the throttle and she grrrrowlsback at you! I thought it was a fitting name for the character of this beast.”
In February 2020, Tatiana decided to up her race game by purchasing a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye that she aptly named ‘GROWLER.’ With a supercharged 6.2L Hemi, the Redeye puts out a crazy 797 hp and 707 lb-ft of torque due to a bigger blower with 14.5 psi of boost. An additional dual-stage fuel pump, increased-capacity airbox, improved lubrication system, stronger rods and pistons, and drive train mods all equate to a 6,500-rpm redline. It’s a monster of a car that Dodge says has a top speed of 203 mph and quarter-mile potential of 10.8 seconds at 131 mph. To emphasize the point, Tatiana clocked 10.81 on March 8 at Fontana when the car was 100 percent stock. It was her first time on a ¼-mile strip in the Redeye.
According to Tatiana, “The car is a civilized beast; she will let you cruise around town, casually obeying the speed limit while getting stares from those who know, and wonder if you’re driving your husband’s car. Yet when you find yourself a stretch of open road and mash the throttle, she will not hesitate to push you hard into the back of your seat, struggling to breath and she whines, roars and pounces.”
Tatiana’s not kidding. At Fontana her terminal speed was 127 mph but off the track she has hit 143 mph. But what of her future plans? “ I’m planning on going all the way to Street Illegal,” she joked. “The first stage of modifications was performed by Lonnie Bartley of MPR Motorpsorts, Lake Elsinore, CA. I trust Lonnie absolutely and he began by removing the front sway bar and installing HHP Racing Hellcat race springs to improve the launch. He installed an aluminum driveshaft from HHP Racing and added a billet diff brace from Per4mane Development. He also replaced the beloved Brembo rear brakes with a 15-inch Wilwood conversion to accommodate the 15-inch Bogart bead-lock wheels.
“Stage II will, of course, depend on Lonnie’s advice and we’re talking about an upper pulley, new injectors, cat delete with straight pipes, a trans tune and an E85 tune. We’re also looking at eventually replacing the stock blower with a Kenne Bell kit.
“I can’t wait to get back racing and if I have one regret in all of this it’s that I didn’t launch myself into this sooner. I enjoy it so much.”
Vehicle: 2019 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye
Owner/driver: Tatiana Weiss
Tuner: MPR Motorsports
Powertrain
• Engine: 6.2L 376 ci intercooled supercharged V8
• Horsepower: 797 hp @ 6300 rpm
• Torque: 707 lb-ft of torque @ 4500
• Trans: 8-speed shiftable automatic
Chassis
• Front sway bar: Deleted
• Front springs: HighHorsePerformance.com
• Aluminum driveshaft: HighHorsePerformance.com
• Billet diff brake: GetPer4mance.com
• Rear brakes: Wilwood.com
• Front brakes: Brembo.com
• Wheels: BogartRacingWheels.com
• Racing tires: Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R 28x6R18LT Front Runners, M/T ET Street Radial PRO 315/60R15 rears
Tony Thacker
Tony Thacker is a motivational speaker and marketing consultant, author and book publisher.
