The Dakota R/T Club, aka the DRTC, is a non-profit organization founded to encourage and promote the admiration for and ownership, care and maintenance with safe and courteous operation of the Dodge Dakota R/T sport truck. If you have come to this site, you are probably already familiar with the Dakota R/T, but for those of you who are not….What is a Dakota R/T? The Dakota R/T was produced in limited numbers beginning in 1998. As in the past, when Dodge applied the R/T name to a car or truck, it stood for “Road and Track”. The Dakota R/T lived up to its heritage right from the get-go, as both pick-up and hot-rod enthusiasts alike quickly realized that they could buy a pick up that could haul stuff all week and on the weekend compete with a whole lot of other vehicles on the drag strip, at Auto-X events and on road courses. Production of the current Dakota R/T ceased after the 2003 model year. The R/T came in two models, Regular Cab and Club Cab. The motor and transmission remained the same through all six years of production with the exception of some minor exhaust and computer changes. The V8 Dodge 360 Magnum motor powers the R/T and has always produced 250 HP and 345 foot pounds of torque from the factory. In addition, the R/T was lowered an inch or so at the factory where they also added huge anti-sway bars both front and rear. Rims were 17”x9” alloy in either silver painted or chrome finish and huge Goodyear RSA tires were standard equipment. All R/T’s came with 4-speed automatic transmissions.

What is the Dakota R/T Club? The DRTC serves as a medium for the exchange of ideas, information and parts for owners of the Dakota R/T, and aids in preserving these great trucks in their original likeness and to otherwise enhance every aspect of ownership. Joining the club is easy, with the ability to fill out an online DRTC membership application and online payment of the $45 initial membership fee via PayPal. For those of you who wish to do so, you can also print the membership application, fill it out, and mail it to us with your check. Once you are a club member, the annual renewal dues are only $25 and all renewals can also be done entirely through the website.

Although the DRTC is a National Club, the founding club members decided it would be best for keeping our demographics if we divided the country into 7 Regions, which the DRTC calls Divisions. These 7 Divisions just happen to follow the same guidelines used by the NHRA. Those divisions can be seen on another page of this website. Each Division has two elected board members and together, those 14 members comprise our Executive Board. From within the Executive Board, we elect a President, Vice President, Secretary, and a Treasurer. All Board Members and Officers serve two-year terms.

Each DRTC Division has within it, one or more local R/T Club Chapters. These Chapters operate and are run as individual, smaller, clubs within the National DRTC. Each Chapter elects its own officers and exists so that members can continue to share the camaraderie of R/T ownership throughout the year by setting up and putting on local get-to-gathers. Part of each member’s annual DRTC membership fee is transferred back to the local Chapters in order to help subsidize prizes, banquets, or trophies for their local events.

What kind of R/T owners are there in the club? We have members from almost every state in the US and Canada, and also a few international members. Our members are interested in all aspects of R/T ownership. Some members have invested huge amounts of time and effort to produce show trucks that have won trophies all across the country at car shows. Other R/T owners have concentrated their time and efforts at producing some very fast drag racing trucks. We currently have one member running in the 10-second bracket and at last count, over a dozen or so trucks running 11-second ET’s. Because the R/T was blessed with a terrific suspension, in addition to a lot of horsepower, many of our DRTC members have begun competing in SCCA Auto-X events all across the country and we have at least one member competing in off road, high-speed, road course competitions.

Each year the DRTC puts on one very large National Meet. The founding members of the Club decided that the locale of each annual meet would move throughout each of the 7 nationwide divisions as the years progressed. They also chose the order in which this would occur. We have had six Annual meets thus far. You can examine info and photos pertaining to each our first six meets on other pages within our web site.

At our Annual Meets we maintain the spirit of good fellowship and participate in all sorts of activities that allow members to use their Dakota R/T in whatever ways interests them the most. We have adopted a pretty standard meet format that allows members to show off their trucks in an all-day “Show & Shine” competition. For those members inclined toward putting the R/T through it racing paces, we usually allow one day of Drag Racing and one day of Auto-X racing. Mixed throughout our annual event are several feed-fests, a giant sponsor give-away, some great raffles for some really big prizes, and, of course, the presenting of trophies and awards from the results of all of the various competitions. Our annual meets are used to further the interest of owners and drivers of Dakota R/T’s and to promote the safety and enjoyment of all phases of motoring.

Take a cruise through the rest of our Club website. If you think you might be interested in being part of this growing organization of Dakota R/T owners, drop us an email and we will try to answer any questions you might have. Have fun, enjoy your R/T, and be safe.