Victory!

Mopar® power propelled Team Mopar drivers such as Jerry Coons Jr.—who dominated the competition on his way to a second straight USAC Midget title—to the winner’s circle in a wide-range of motor sports series throughout the 2007 season.

USAC

Take one Team Mopar® veteran, add one NASCAR Nextel Cup superstar driver as a team owner, stir in two up-and-coming young guns and what do you get? A recipe for success in Team Mopar’s 2007 United States Auto Club (USAC) Midget and Sprint Car Series campaigns.

The veteran, Jerry Coons Jr., had the “Midas Touch” in the USAC National Midget Series—everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. The driver of the Mopar Wilke-PAK/Speedway Motors midget car clinched his second straight USAC Midget championship trophy for Team Mopar. Coons earned four USAC National Midget wins in 2007, including a sweep of the Mopar Belleville Midget Nationals in July and the Indiana Midget Week championship. For good measure, the multi-talented driver also rolled up wins and finished in the top ten in both the USAC National Sprint and Silver Crown Series.

NASCAR Nextel Cup star Kasey Kahne deepened his bond with the Mopar brand at the start of 2007, when his Kasey Kahne Racing (KKR) team was named as the brand’s factory-backed team in the USAC National Sprint and Midget Series, as well as the World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Series. Kahne tabbed teenaged rising stars Brady Bacon and Kevin Swindell to wheel his USAC Sprint and Midget entries, and the two “young guns” didn’t disappoint.

The 17-year-old Bacon amassed nine top five and 15 top ten finishes in USAC Sprint competition, good for fourth in the standings, and was also eighth in the USAC Midget standings. Swindell took the pole and led every lap on his way to victory in the prestigious “Night Before the 500 Midget Classic” at O’Reilly Raceway Park in May, and finished sixth in the USAC Midget standings and eighth in the final USAC Sprint points tally.

Mopar-powered driver Darren Hagen was runner-up in the USAC Sprint title battle and, along with Bacon, Swindell, Coons and Damion Gardner, gave Mopar five drivers in the top ten of the final USAC Sprint points standings. In the USAC Midget Series, Brad Kuhn joined Coons, Swindell and Bacon as Mopar-powered drivers in the top ten.

2007 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

NHRA POWERade Drag Racing

The Mopar HEMI® power wielded on the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series in 2007, especially in the NHRA Funny Car division, was awe-inspiring. HEMI-powered Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars captured 12 wins in just 23 events, with Team Mopar and Don Schumacher Racing drivers Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the new NHRA Countdown to 1 two-race championship shootout. Scelzi drove his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T to a series-high four wins.

Not to be outdone by his Funny Car counterparts, Team Mopar veteran Allen Johnson also put together a stellar year in the NHRA Pro Stock division. Johnson was among four Pro Stock drivers to qualify for the Countdown to 1, finishing in the fourth spot overall, his best career points finish. The J&J Racing driver and long time Team Mopar veteran also captured the pole and seized the win at Mopar’s marquee event, the Mopar Mile-High Nationals. Johnson’s teammate Richie Stevens Jr. also had a typical solid season, posting a top ten Pro Stock finish, ending the season in the ninth spot.

WoO

In the World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Series, Kahne returned driver Joey Saldana to the fold after the Indiana native finished third in the 2006 championship chase. The veteran sprint car driver proceeded to put together a career year during the 2007 campaign.

Saldana, driving the Open Joist/JEI Mopar, piled up twelve wins in 2007, second most of the series, and accumulated 42 top five and 66 top ten finishes. The KKR mainstay finished a hard-fought second in the World of Outlaws Sprint championship chase after waging a thrilling season-long points battle with champion Donny Schatz.

Drifting

In the Formula Drift Series, Team Mopar’s 2004 and 2006 Formula D champion Samuel Hübinette drove his 392 HEMI-powered Mopar Dodge Charger SRT8 to one win and a fifth-place finish in the final standings. Hübinette’s victory at Summit Point Motorsports Park in June was a historic one, as it was the first win in a professional race series by a race car based directly on the Chrysler LX platform. It was also the ninth career Formula Drift win for Hübinette.

NASCAR

In what has become an annual fall tradition, Dodge Motorsports driver and Team Mopar owner Kasey Kahne posted a strong eighth-place finish while carrying the Mopar banner in the NASCAR Nextel Cup event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C. in October.

Part of the Gillett Evernham Motorsports team, Kahne campaigned the Mopar colors on his No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge at the 2004 and 2005 fall Lowe’s events, and powered to a win in the Mopar colors at the 2006 event. The 2006 victory was the first NASCAR Nextel Cup win for a car carrying Mopar’s colors as the primary paint scheme.

One Lap of America

Mopar Performance Parts engineers Eric Vickerman and Scott McMeekin displayed not only the power but the endurance and reliability of the 392 HEMI engine, taking first place in the Luxury Car class of the One Lap of America in May.

Vickerman and McMeekin also placed their Dodge Charger SRT8 14th place overall for the event. Chrysler vehicles took four of the top ten spots in the Luxury Class, with another Dodge Charger SRT8 taking sixth, a Magnum SRT8 placing eighth and one other Charger SRT8 capturing the ninth spot.

Mopar HEMI Challenge

Fierce battles continued to rage in 2007 between 1968 Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Darts from the NHRA Super Stock/A-HEMI (SS/AH) division in the Mopar HEMI Challenge. In its seventh season, the series continued to grow, and crowned a new champion at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Ind., in September 2007. Rick Houser, driving Jim DeFrank’s California Car Covers 1968 Barracuda, took the Indy event win and $10,000 winner’s purse. The victory also put Houser over the top in the season points standings, earning him the championship trophy and an additional $5,000.

Three 2008 points events took place in 2007, with Charlie Westcott Sr., Michael Ogburn and Charlie Westcott Jr. bringing home HEMI Challenge trophies. The 2008 points battle will resume this year, starting at the Mopars at The Strip event in Las Vegas, Nev. The series will then head to the NHRA JEGS.com Cajun SPORTSnationals in Louisiana before wrapping up once again at the famed Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

SPEED World Challenge GT Series

Mopar-powered Dodge Viper Competition Coupes were a force to be reckoned with in 2007 on the SPEED World Challenge GT Series circuit. Tommy Archer brought home a win in truly dominating fashion, leading from start to finish in the May event at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. At each of the ten events, a large gang of Viper Comp Coupes claimed spots in the top twenty. Jeff Courtney led the Comp Coupe contingent in the overall championship battle, piloting his No. 99 Kenda Tires/Pro MPI Dodge Viper Comp Coupe to the seventh spot in the final standings.