Just Win, Baby!

And that’s exactly what Team Mopar® did in 2008, as Jerry Coons Jr. seized his third straight USAC crown with Mopar power and a pack of Team Mopar drivers piled up wins in an assortment of racing series.

Words: Darren Jacobs

USAC National Sprint Car

Team Mopar® driver Jerry Coons Jr. celebrated his third consecutive championship with Mopar power, as the popular Arizona veteran steered his No. 69 Hoffman Auto Racing machine to the 2008 United States Auto Club (USAC) National Sprint Car Series title. Coons, who claimed back-to-back championships in the USAC Midget National Championship Series in 2006–07, wheeled his Mopar-powered sprinter to three USAC Sprint wins in ’08, including back-to-back wins during the USAC “Indiana Sprint Week” mini-series.

Coons also became just the fifth driver to claim championships in all three USAC National divisions (Sprint, Midget, Silver Crown). The elite club includes famed USAC stars Tony Stewart, J.J. Yeley, Pancho Carter and Dave Darland.

“I never thought I would have one USAC championship. To get two USAC Midget titles, then to be able to back it up with USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown championships this year, it’s hard to put into words what it means to me,” said Coons. “And to see my name now along with the other guys who have won championships in all three USAC Series, I almost don’t feel like my name fits in with those guys, when you look at their records and everything they have accomplished. It almost hasn’t sunk in. I have had a really great run with Mopar power, with three straight titles under Mopar power.”

Team Mopar and Kasey Kahne Racing drivers Brad Sweet and Brady Bacon joined Coons in the top-ten of the final USAC Sprint points standings, finishing eighth and ninth, respectively. The young duo teamed for back-to-back wins in 2008, with Sweet posting a wire-to-wire win in the prestigious “4-Crown Nationals” at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on Sept. 20, and Bacon powering to victory the very next week at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway.

Damion Gardner, utilizing a Mopar powerplant, wrapped up his season tenth in the standings. Fourth-place Cole Whitt and sixth-place Darren Hagen both utilized Mopar engines in selected events—further proof of Mopar’s USAC Sprint Car dominance.

USAC Mopar Midget National Championship

Mopar signed on as title sponsor of the USAC Mopar Midget National Championship Series in 2008 and saw its factory-backed Kasey Kahne Racing driver Sweet—in his first full season of USAC Midget competition—capture six wins and a top-five showing in the final points rundown of the Mopar-sponsored series.

Sweet steered his No. 49 KKR midget to third overall in the points battle and snagged victories in a number of high-profile events: June’s “King Doodlebug Classic” and “Pepsi/Mountain Dew Knoxville Midget Nationals,” both at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway; the “Belleville Midget Nationals” in Kansas during July; the Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway round of “Indiana Midget Week” in August; and the opening two nights of October’s “Gold Crown Midget Nationals” at the Tri-City Speedway in Illinois. The California circle-track star also earned four Fast Time awards and banked 17 top-five and 21 top-ten results.

“I’m 100 percent happy with the season I’ve had,” remarked Sweet. “This is the first full-season, national schedule I’ve ever run. So if we come up a little short of the championship in my first year, that’s all right. Hopefully, we can get it all together next year and really go after it.”

Fellow KKR compatriot Bacon also recorded a top-five points finish, clocking in at fifth. The Oklahoma native also shined with a victory in the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA) “Firemens’ Nationals” event held Aug. 30 at the Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wis. Coons, who scored a USAC Midget victory in the finale of the October “Gold Crown Midget Nationals,” giving Mopar a three-night sweep of the event, closed the season eighth in the USAC Mopar Midget points chase.

World of Outlaws Sprint

Kasey Kahne Racing driver Joey Saldana recorded his third straight top-five World of Outlaws (WoO) Sprint Car Series title finish with Mopar power, winding up fourth in his Mopar-powered Budweiser/Open Joist Sprint Car.

Saldana and his KKR crew reached victory lane five times, including a sweep of the WoO Sprint program at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on Sept. 19, where the Brownsburg, Ind., native set fast time in qualifying, won both his heat race and the “dash” event, and led every one of the A-main’s 30 laps in recording a $10,000 victory. Saldana logged 31 top-fives and 45 top-tens and set five Fast Time marks on the year.

SCORE Desert

Brian Collins, steering his No. 12 Mopar Dodge Ram 1500 along with co-driver Chuck Hovey, rocketed to the winner’s circle twice and nabbed the seventh position in the Trophy Truck title battle during a stellar 2008 “SCORE Desert Series” campaign.

The Collins Motorsports duo was a force in the Trophy Truck ranks throughout the year. Collins captured a solo win with Mopar power in March at the Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 and teamed with Hovey in non-SCORE action to notch a victory at the return of the historic SNORE Mint 400. The San Felipe conquest was the first SCORE victory for a Mopar-powered Dodge truck since 1979. The pair also claimed a third-place finish in the SCORE Baja 500 in June and the runner-up spot on the podium at the SCORE Terrible’s Primm 300 in September.

Formula Drift

Team Mopar NuFormz Dodge Viper SRT10® driver Samuel Hübinette just missed in his bid for a third Formula Drift (FD) championship, concluding his 2008 effort as the FD title runner-up as he prepared to transition into his new Mopar Drift Dodge Challenger next season (see page 22–25).

Hübinette, the 2004 and 2006 FD champion, bagged three podium finishes in 2008, including runner-up outings in the April event on the Streets of Long Beach and the August tilt at Evergreen Speedway near Seattle. The “Crazy Swede” also banked three No. 1 Qualifier awards (Long Beach, Seattle, Sonoma), and qualified second and advanced to the final four in the Red Bull Drifting World Championship, a special invite-only event that featured the 32 top drifters from around the world.

“I’m very stoked about the excellent performance of Mopar power throughout the year,” said Hübinette, who has nine career FD wins, a series best. “Of course, we’re all about winning a championship, but to finish second this year after taking fifth in 2007, we feel good. We’ll try to bring home our third championship next year.”

Speed World Challenge GT

Cindi Lux excelled as Team Mopar’s road-racing representative, campaigning her No. 2 Mopar Viper Competition Coupe to five top-10 outings during the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) SPEED World Challenge GT season. The NayKid Racing driver and team owner posted a career-best fifth-place finish at Utah’s Miller Motorsports Park in May. It was the best finish ever for a woman in SPEED GT competition and the best finish by a woman overall in SPEED World Challenge competition since Shauna Marinus’ third place result in SPEED Touring Car in 2003. Lux also posted an eighth-place finish and took Hard Charger and Holeshot race honors at the SPEED GT stop on Detroit’s Belle Isle in August.

Mopar-powered Vipers filled two spots in the top ten of the final SPEED World Challenge GT points standings. Jason Daskalos clocked in at sixth in his Coastal Pet Products Viper Comp Coupe, scoring six top-ten finishes. Jeff Courtney steered his Viper Comp Coupe to six top-ten finishes as well, and claimed the eighth spot in the standings. Finishing just outside the top-ten was Tommy Archer, 11th in his Viper Comp Coupe after hauling in three wins in just six events. Lux finished in 14th-place.

NHRA Funny Car

Team Mopar hotshoe Jack Beckman paced the field of Mopar HEMI®-powered drivers during the 24-event NHRA POWERade Funny Car schedule, grabbing third-place in the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoffs. The Don Schumacher Racing driver roared to three wins in ’08, added four runner-up results and recorded an impressive 33-18 round win record in his Valvoline/MTS Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car.

“We were completely written off in the Countdown deal and now we have the No. 3 car this year,” said Beckman. “This is exactly what we were supposed to do this year, is contend for the title and be a top-five car, and third ain’t first, but it ain’t that bad.”

Also putting her name in the ’08 Funny Car win column was Mopar-powered pilot Melanie Troxel. With her triumph at the Bristol event in May, Troxel became the first woman to win a Wally in both nitro classes (Top Fuel and Funny Car). Beckman’s Don Schumacher Racing teammate Ron Capps placed eighth in the Countdown, with two runner-up finishes.

The 2008 season also marked a bon voyage to a fan-favorite of the Mopar Nation, Mopar/ Oakley Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Gary Scelzi. The four-time NHRA champion, who drove to the 2005 NHRA Funny Car title with Mopar power, announced he would step away from NHRA competition at the end of the season to focus on his family and his business, Scelzi Enterprises, a custom truck body manufacturing company.

NHRA Pro Stock

Mopar-powered NHRA POWERade Pro Stock driver Allen Johnson ended an excellent 2008 season seventh in the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoffs. Johnson piloted his HEMI-powered Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T to a 28-24 round win record, eight semifinals appearances (including two runner-up finishes) and claimed three No. 1 Qualifier Awards.

The Greeneville, Tenn., native utilized Mopar power to qualify in the top half of the field at a remarkable 22 of 24 Pro Stock events. Johnson also notched a huge victory in the race- within-a-race $50,000 K&N Horsepower Challenge, held in June during the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio. Johnson posted a perfect .000 light to defeat Greg Anderson and claim the $50,000 winner’s purse.

Mopar-powered Pro Stocker V. Gaines also had a solid season. The veteran driver collared a win at the NHRA Phoenix event in February and held the ninth spot in the Countdown standings at season’s end.