Image : Indiana State Police

Indiana State Police pulled over a 707-horsepower Dodge Challenger Hellcat for going more than twice the speed limit on a toll road Tuesday, clocked at at 160 mph, as the department said in a statement. The driver purportedly told an officer he was “just trying to get to Maryland.”


If he was talking about the state of Maryland, there are probably better ways to get there than driving twice the speed limit in an $80,000 drag-strip car for 10 hours. There faster ways, even, like a plane or something.

The statement said a trooper, Dustin Eggert, was merging back onto the road after helping a driver who had broken down when he saw the orange Hellcat speed by on the Indiana Toll Road. Eggert claimed he saw the car weaving in and out of slower traffic without signaling, and sped up to catch the car.


According to the statement, Eggert got up to 150 mph chasing the Hellcat but still wasn’t gaining ground and radioed for other troopers ahead to help out. Eggert apparently caught the car when it got stuck between two semi trucks driving next to each other, which is probably the only time other drivers would wish to encounter that situation on a highway.



The driver’s apparent reasoning behind going so fast is what’s most incredible, according to the statement:

The driver of the Hellcat, identified as J. Jesus Duran Sandoval, age 38 of Lake Geneva, WI, was allegedly driving on an expired driver’s license. Sandoval told Eggert he was driving a bit more than 160 miles per hour and just trying to get to Maryland. Sandoval was arrested on a preliminary charge of Reckless Driving and taken to the LaPorte County Jail.

Oh, yeah, just trying to make it to Maryland in a time crunch! Sounds legit.

The Indiana State Police statement said the Hellcat was the second car in the past two weeks to be caught going more than 130 mph on the Indiana Toll Road. Keep the track speeds on the track, whether you need to scratch your racing itch or you’re just in a big hurry to get to Maryland. That’s what planes are for.

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