'09 Rewind

Facts are facts: 2009 wasn’t exactly a banner year for motorsports in general. Racing sponsorships were among the first to get the axe in the troubled economy, and many racing series experienced drops in fan attendance. Like the rest of the industry, Team Mopar® endured its share of challenges and changes in 2009. Yet true to the never-say-die, underdog history of the brand, Mopar-powered drivers persevered to pile up enough victories and strong point standing finishes to rival previous years, making 2009 yet another season to remember for Team Mopar fans.

Words: Darren Jacobs

NHRA FULL THROTTLE PRO STOCK

Team Mopar driver Allen Johnson steered his HEMI®-powered NHRA Pro Stock Mopar/J&J Racing Dodge Stratus R/T (above) to two wins in 2009, a single-season career high for the veteran Pro Stocker. Johnson powered to a win in the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals at Denver’s Bandimere Speedway, capturing the victory at his primary sponsor’s home track, and scored a Wally trophy at the O’Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals in Topeka, Kan. He also captured his seventh career No. 1 Qualifier Award at the NHRA event in Seattle, reaching the semifinals.

Johnson (shown right celebrating his Mopar Mile-Highs win) finished seventh in the 2009 final NHRA Pro Stock standings. It was Johnson’s fourth straight Top-10 finish and his third consecutive appearance in the NHRA Countdown to 1 playoffs. The seven-time NHRA event winner will look to add to his career victory total with his new NHRA Pro Stock Mopar Dodge Avenger, set to debut at the 50th Annual Kragen O’Reilly NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif., Feb. 11–14, 2010 (see story on page 10).

NHRA FULL THROTTLE FUNNY CAR

Mopar HEMI-powered NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger R/T Funny Car driver Ron Capps (left) wrapped up the season third in the final 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car point standings. Capps earned five class victories, the most of any Funny Car driver during the 2009 campaign, including a win at the Mopar Mile-High NHRA Nationals.

Capps’ Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teammate, Jack Beckman, finished fifth in the standings. Beckman drove his Mopar-fueled Funny Car to two wins, giving Mopar HEMI-powered Dodge Charger R/T Funny Cars seven victories during the 2009 season. Capps, Beckman and the third member of the DSR trio, rookie Matt Hagan, also combined to earn six No. 1 Qualifier Awards on the year.

MOPAR HEMI CHALLENGE RACE SERIES

The ninth edition of the Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series once again pitted the famous Super Stock/A-HEMI (SS/AH) 1968 Dodge Darts and Plymouth Barracudas in ground-pounding Mopar vs. Mopar battles. Charlie Westcott Sr. captured the HEMI Challenge win and the $10,000 payout in his 1968 HEMI Barracuda at the first event of the year, the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.

Bristol, Pa., dentist Jim Daniels (shown right and in action) swept the final two events of the year. Daniels drove his Ray Barton Racing 1968 Dodge Dart to victory in the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals in Columbus, Ohio, and in the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove Raceway in Reading, Pa. Daniels also lowered the NHRA class record at Reading with a pass of 8.331 seconds at 157.96 mph. The victory was the third of Daniels’ Mopar HEMI Challenge career.

FORMULA DRIFT

The Mopar-powered NuFormz Racing Formula DRIFT (FD) team and driver Samuel Hübinette ended their 2009 season in the fourth spot in the final point standings. The team also staged a poignant tribute to their fallen team owner and leader, Shaun Carlson, who passed away suddenly on Oct. 4. Hübinette’s Dodge Viper SRT10 was wrapped with special “red Camo” graphics featuring an image of Carlson with his trademark Mohawk haircut for the final event of the year at Southern California’s Irwindale Speedway.

The NuFormz team and Hübinette did Carlson proud, scoring two round wins before exiting in the Great Eight. Hübinette, winner of two FD titles (2004 and 2006) and nine career events, a series-high, with Carlson, took special comfort in the team’s finish. Hübinette and Carlson never finished worse than fifth in the final FD standings since the series was formed in 2004.

WORLD OF OUTLAWS SPRINT SERIES

Mopar-powered Joey Saldana became just the fifth driver in the more than 30-year history of the World of Outlaws Sprint Series to win at least 20 A-Feature events in a single season. The Kasey Kahne Racing (KKR) driver ended his year with a victory in the World Finals at The Dirt Track @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte, N.C., and was ranked third in the final WoO Sprint standings.

Saldana joined an illustrious list of WoO Sprint drivers to have won 20 or more A-Feature events in a season: 20-time series champion Steve Kinser, three-time titlist Sammy Swindell, two-time champ Mark Kinser and Doug Wolfgang accomplished that feat prior to Saldana. The KKR veteran steered his Mopar-powered Budweiser sprinter to 48 Top-10 finishes, 37 of which were Top-Five performances.

SPORTSMAN

The grassroots core of Team Mopar continued to turn out in force in 2009, as legions of Mopar-powered Sportsman drivers hit the strip, hauling in trophies and wins at quarter-miles throughout the country. Leading the charge was “Big Daddy” himself, Don Garlits, who competed in the Sportsman classes in his new Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar (below), which made its NHRA national event debut at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals. The Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar was built for sanctioned NHRA Stock, Super Stock and Comp Eliminator drag racing. Shortly after the U.S. Nationals, Charlestown, Ind., native Irv Johns steered his Dodge Challenger Drag Pak by Mopar to victory in the A/SA Stock Eliminator class at the JEGS Northern SPORTSnationals at National Trail Raceway in Columbus, Ohio.

Successful Mopar-powered Sportsman and Pro Stock racers picked up much-needed additional financial rewards when competing with specified Mopar parts under the 2009 Mopar Contingency Program. Steve Wann (inset), of Modesto, Calif., earned the highest total payout of any driver during the 2009 campaign. Wann competes in a 1973 Dodge Dart Sport in NHRA Stock Eliminator and also drives a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda in NHRA Super Stock competition, which he steered to a Division 5 win in Topeka, Kan. Below is a list of the Top-10 earners under the 2009 Mopar Contingency Program.

1. Steve Wann
2. John Shaul
3. Shane Studley
4. Mark Nowicki
5. David Bogner
6. Bill Koski
7. Allen Johnson
8. Joe Teuton
9. (TIE) Larry Gilley, Tom Mettler

USAC MOPAR MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Kasey Kahne Racing USAC Mopar National Midget driver Brad Sweet wrapped up his 2009 season with a sixth-place finish in the 69th annual Lucas Oil “Turkey Night Grand Prix” at Irwindale Speedway on Thursday, Nov. 26. Sweet steered his Mopar-fueled Midget car to a second-place showing in the final USAC Mopar National Midget standings, finishing just eight points behind champion Brad Kuhn.

Sweet racked up three wins on the USAC Mopar National Midget circuit in 2009, capturing victories at Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Ariz., Salem (Ind.) Speedway and Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. The rising 23-year-old circle track star will again take the wheel of a Mopar-powered KKR Midget in 2010.