Mopar Rocks Red Rocks

Team Mopar®’s current roster of racing superstars, joined by two Mopar racing legends, brought the next generation and previous generation together for an historic team photo shoot at Red Rocks Park in Morrison, Colo., as part of the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.

Words: Darren Jacobs

Transporters rumbled loudly one by one into Red Rocks Park in Morrison, Colo., on the afternoon of July 9, kicking up clouds of dust under a bright and constant sun as their precious cargo was quickly unloaded—a fleet of Mopar®-powered race cars, wrapped in eye-catching Mopar “Liquid Metal” and “Mopar Camo” paint schemes.

As Red Rocks patrons stopped in mid-jog to ooh and ahh at the Mopar machines, Team Mopar drivers began to arrive in their various Chrysler rental cars, emerging clad in sunglasses to combat the bright sunlight. They waited (impatiently, as racers are inclined to do) until the last second before donning their cumbersome fire suits in the summer heat. Then the cars were positioned and the drivers posed for an historic happening: the first-ever Team Mopar group photo shoot.

If you think it’s easy to arrange for eight drivers and nine race cars to gather on the outskirts of Denver on the eve of the Mopar Mile-High Nationals (and in the thick of the racing season)—well, you would just be plum wrong! The many obstacles didn’t deter Mopar, though, as the historic group shoot came off with nary a hitch.

The players that converged in Colorado to create Team Mopar history squeezed the photo shoot into their already obscenely busy schedules. Two-time Formula Drift champion Samuel Hübinette attended along with team owner Shaun Carlson, their NuFormz Racing Mopar Dodge Viper SRT10® drift car in tow. SCORE Desert off-road racers Brian Collins and Chuck Hovey were accompanied by most of their Collins Motorsports team and their ride, the No. 12 Mopar Dodge Ram 1500 Trophy Truck. Hübinette jetted off the very next morn for a Formula Drift event in Las Vegas, followed shortly thereafter by Carlson, Collins and Hovey.

SPEED World Challenge GT road racer and Aloha, Ore. native Cindi Lux, a newcomer this season to Team Mopar, made the long trek to Red Rocks, along with her husband Fred Lux, crew chief for her No. 2 Mopar Viper Competition Coupe. NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series stalwarts Allen Johnson and Gary Scelzi had the least difficult journey. The pair was already in the area to compete in the Mopar Mile-Highs, Johnson in his Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T Pro Stock car and Scelzi in his Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car.

The Team Mopar Red Rocks array also featured one of the drag-race, factory-prepped Dodge Challenger Drag Pak vehicles by Mopar. The new race cars, based on the Challenger SRT8,® would make their world debuts later in the week at the Mile-Highs. Mopar legends “Big Daddy” Don Garlits (who brought along his 392 HEMI® Swamp Rat dragster to the shoot) and Judy “Miss Mighty Mopar” Lilly steered the Drag Pak vehicles during their maiden voyages, but prior to that the duo also came out to commingle with the next generation of Mopar superstars. Regretfully, Kasey Kahne Racing’s USAC stars Brad Sweet and Brady Bacon were unable to attend due to a previously scheduled race, but team owner Kahne sent along Bacon’s spare No. 99 USAC Mopar Midget National Championship car for the photo session.

As the photo shoot began to take shape, the Team Mopar drivers caught up with old friends and made new ones as well. SpeedFreaks Motorsports Radio Show host Kenny Sargent was on hand with a film crew to capture the history-making Mopar-powered summit for posterity.

“Well, it was just neat to meet all the Mopar drivers—Sam, Cindi, Brian and Chuck,” said Scelzi. “I met Sam Hübinette before at some of the appearances we’ve done at SEMA. Off-road guy Brian Collins, and Cindi Lux, who drives the Viper, are just a bunch of great people to be associated with. There are just a lot of people with Mopar racing that I did not know. And some that I did, it was nice to see them again. I just wish they all could have come out to the drag races to see us run, but a lot of them had events they had to go to.”

The drivers’ excitement was palpable, as they eagerly dished on the ins and outs of their race cars. Some hotshoes couldn’t resist grabbing seat time in a Mopar-powered machine not their own.

“I got the chance to sit inside Scelzi’s Funny Car and that was fun to try that out. It was very tight and not a whole lot of space or view of the cockpit area,” said a surprised sounding Hübinette. “It gave me an appreciation of what those guys do, sitting in a rocket like that.”

Hübinette wasn’t satisfied with just sitting in the cockpit—he was nearly foaming at the mouth to get some live track time in a HEMI®-powered Funny Car!

“It would be great to have the chance to go to a track and swap cars with each other,” observed Hübinette. “That would be awesome.” Johnson echoed that statement: “It was nice to talk to everybody and find out what they do, and maybe get the opportunity to drive all their cars sometime. I think Mopar should do this more often.”

The veterans on the Team Mopar roster made the newcomers—Collins, Hovey and Lux—feel right at home.

“It was quite the honor to be out there and meet all the drivers,” Collins said. “They were very open to receiving me and my team and my co-driver, Chuck Hovey. I know how it is between teams sometimes, but we are all on the same team. We all went and had a great dinner together afterwards.”

“The Red Rocks gathering of fellow Mopar drivers was awesome,” chimed in Lux. “We all represent the same brand and have the same objectives when we go to our respective forms of racing. So there was a huge common bond we immediately had with each other. We all get the lucky opportunity to showcase Mopar, one of the coolest sponsors in the world.”

Garlits and Lilly, racing legends that competed with Mopar power to build the brand’s storied motorsports heritage, gave their stamp of approval to the new breed of Team Mopar racers.

“It was an honor to come out and take part in this Team Mopar photo shoot,” said Garlits. “I talked with the drivers and got to know the new generation of Mopar racers. I think they’re a great bunch. My wife Pat and I enjoyed the beautiful Red Rocks scenery. It’s a gorgeous place. Very inspiring.”

Scelzi summed up the drivers’ view of the day succinctly: “It was a lot of fun. I can’t wait to see the photos. It’s something I will always remember.”