Up for the Challenge

Mopar® HEMI® Challenge Race Series competitors are in a class by themselves—literally. The popular series pits Super Stock A/HEMI (SS/AH) 1968 HEMI Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas against one another in pitched battle on the drag strip. Think of it as a civil war, Mopar-style, where spectators are treated to amazing heads-up racing and competitors often pitch in to lend their fellow HEMI Challenge drivers a hand.

Case in point: The first event of the 2009 Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series (now in its ninth year), held during the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in September. Charlie Westcott Sr. pulled off the win in his 1968 HEMI Barracuda, besting David Barton, of Robesonia, Pa. However, Westcott Sr. would have never reached the staging lanes for his final run if not for the helping hands of a gang of his fellow competitors.

The Parma, Mich., native dropped a valve in his engine during his semifinal bye run. His son, Charlie Westcott Jr. (owner of the most career Mopar HEMI Challenge wins) reclaimed a Mopar 426 HEMI engine the Westcotts had just delivered to John Raines, of Santa Paula, Calif. In Californian Jim DeFrank’s well-equipped trailer, with the help of many Mopar HEMI Challenge racers, the engine swap was completed in 90 minutes, just in time to get Westcott Sr. to the starting line.

Westcott Sr. was much quicker off the line as he claimed the Mopar HEMI Challenge Indy title with an 8.626-second run at 156.15 mph. Barton trailed with an 8.802 ET and a speed of 152.87 mph. Westcott Sr. hauled home $10,000 for the victory, his first at the U.S. Nationals. His son had won three out of the last four Mopar HEMI Challenge events at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis.

“Jason Line [a veteran NHRA Pro Stock champion] came up to me after I won and said, ‘You give me something to look forward to when I get old,’” said the 66-year-old Westcott Sr., who bested a field of 21 HEMI Challenge cars.

The series’ next stop was at Hebron, Ohio, in late September during the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals. Jim Daniels, of Bristol, Pa., claimed his second career Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series victory after class runoffs were canceled due to persistent rain showers at the event. Daniels earned the win in the SS/AH Mopar HEMI Challenge class based on his 8.511 elapsed time in his Ray Barton Racing 1968 Dodge Dart during qualifying.

“It feels really good, for no lack of trying and hard work,” said Daniels, who took home the $5,000 winner’s purse with the victory. “It was a lot of hard work by everybody and it worked out really well. I wish we could have run the race. We had the car to beat, but there are a lot of other good drivers.”

The final event of the 2009 Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series was scheduled to take place Oct. 22–25 at the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. Daniels earned his first career Mopar HEMI Challenge win last year at the event. For a complete recap of the Dutch Classic Mopar HEMI Challenge event visit www.moparspeed.com, the official E-Zine of Team Mopar.