Just watching this should put hair on your chest. 

In the spirit of red-blooded reality shows like “America’s Toughest Jobs” and “Ice Road Truckers”, Dodge has created a first-of-its-kind long-form reality competition called Dodge Ram Challenge which shows the strength, durability and functionality of the all-new pickup truck.

The competition pits real truck buyers from around the United States – teams of cowboys, construction workers, firemen and military personnel – on a real obstacle course. Each team has an additional member – an all-new, stock 2009 Dodge Ram Crew 1500. After four elimination races, one team will emerge the winner, and take home the Ram.

“We don’t have actors, we have real guys. We call them our local heroes,” said Deborah Meyer, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “We took them out on a real course, nothing tricked up. Just a real course that represents all the things we talked to our owners about, how they use their real trucks.”

If it looks like a summer blockbuster – with exploding houses, swirling helicopters overhead, and outrageous stunts – it should. The competition is produced by Tony Scott, the director of “Top Gun”, “Beverly Hills Cop II”, “Days of Thunder”, “Crimson Tide” and many other films. 

The cameras caught the action, from a safe distance, at the obstacle course in the California desert north of Los Angeles. (Did we mention that this is filmed on a closed track?)

The “webisodes” air beginning Sept. 19 on the www.RamChallenge.com Web site, hosted by Yahoo! and linked to the Dodge brand site (www.Dodge.com). There you’ll find a series of five six-minute online segments, beginning first with the introduction of all four teams competing in the challenge. The long-form programming begins Oct. 19 and continues through mid-December.

And that’s just the beginning of how Dodge plans letting America and the rest of the world know that a new tough Dodge Ram – the best pickup Dodge has ever built – will soon be available.