Earlier this year, I got my first drag racing experience in a pre-production 2013 SRT Viper GTS. On a slick course and street tires, I ran a respectable 12.12 at 125 MPH. Turns out I was barely scratching the surface of what the Viper can do.

A crash near Ann Arbor, Michigan claimed this 2013 SRT Viper with manufacturer license plates. It may be the first new Viper to crash outside of a race course. (Update: According to news reports, the driver was killed in this crash. See details below.)

Who reads car reviews so late at night? But that's what you get in the world of (now broken) manufacturer embargoes. The Jalopnik Review of the 2013 SRT Viper GTS will be going up tomorrow morning. But for now, here are a few reasons why, this week, we're thankful for it.

Ever since there have been Vipers, John Hennessey has been tuning them. Sometimes, it seems like his tuned cars are on the street before the production cars, if that's at all possible. And they were always incredibly bonkers.

Yesterday, SRT president and designer Ralph Gilles stopped by Jalopnik to answer some questions. When asked what inspired the design of the new Viper, his answer was simple: "Halle Berry."

If you were born a gearhead, Ralph Gilles is essentially who you wanted to be when you grew up. Like most of us, Ralph started drawing cars when he was young, unlike most of us he turned that passion into a job at Chrysler where he became a break out star following the design of the company's extremely successful…

The only thing better than a festival serving bacon dishes of every sort is a bacon festival featuring a few 2013 Dodge Vipers. The similarities between Vipers and bacon aren't all that obvious at first, but look a little deeper and they're there.

There's two little design easter eggs you might miss on the new SRT Viper if you don't look carefully — maps of two famous racetracks that have been lovingly tattooed like a tramp stamp onto the new 640 HP supercar.

The star of the New York Auto Show is the new Viper. Everyone's talking about it — even more than the new Nissan cab, if you can imagine that. But what's less realized is that there's lots of stuff called "viper" that aren't even cars! Get this — they even named a snake "viper!"

All I've wanted to do all day is stare at the 2013 SRT Viper. To lick its shimmering curves and caress its glorious carbon fiber details. But I'm busy and you're not here. That's what we've sent our photographer to capture every fapworthy detail.