Mopar Speed news 2004-05-11

Mopar Speed
Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Mopar highlights the top of One Lap of America leaderboard

Mopar Performance teamed up with Dodge and the SRT group to support a Dodge Viper SRT-10 and a Dodge Ram SRT-10 in Car & Driver Magazine's recent One Lap of America competition.

David Zelkowski and Brian Smith drove the Viper to an overall second-place finish and top billing in the SSGT1 BB class. The Viper featured numerous new parts from Mopar Performance: Lightweight Flywheel, Racing Limited Slip Differential, Differential Oil Cooling Package, Club Sport Suspension Kit, Racing Aerodynamic Kit. Short Throw Shifter, Performance Side Exit Exhaust, Race Engine Controller, Camshaft, and Race Oil Pick Up. Zelkowski and Smith earned the overall One Lap trophy in 2001.

Marc Musial and Erich Heuschele piloted a beastly Dodge Ram SRT-10 to the top of the SUV class. After the competition was completed, participants were invited to return to the skidpad to put on a show for the crowd.

"No points were awarded," Car & Driver's Tony Swan said in an online recap. "But for sheer smoke-screen density Erich Heuschele's bad-boy Ram was the hands-down winner. Heuschele put the Ram into a low-speed burnout, with the rear wheels spinning furiously as the truck crept forward, and kept it up until one of the rear tires finally burned right through the tread."

Another vehicle with a plethora of parts from Mopar Performance, a Dodge SRT-4 fielded by Lake Effect Racing's Dale Seeley, Jamin Cummings and Dunnie Morgan, earned class championship honors in the "Econo Car" category. It was Seeley's third class victory in a Chrysler Group vehicle in his eight years of participation. Mopar Performance parts on this SRT-4 included: Stage 2 Turbo Upgrade Kit, Stage 3 Coilovers, Cat-Back Exhaust, Short Throw Shifter, Anti-Sway Bars, and Blow-Off Valve Conversion Kit.

"During the event, having the constant support of Erich Heuschele, Mark Mussio, and Dave Zelkowski made our lives a lot easier," Seeley said. "Everything from tire pressures, to brake life, through vacuum line troubleshooting was passed through them before final decisions were made."

One Lap of America is a competition designed to test the strength and endurance of vehicles and their drivers. Over eight days, One Lap competitors visited seven different venues and logged 5628 highway miles through ten states while in transit between 17 scored events.

Mopar had a strong presence at the One Lap of America competition last week. The Dodge Viper pictured above earned second-place overall and won the SSGT1 BB class. The car was fitted with numerous parts from Mopar Performance.

During One Lap, Chrysler Group employees Marc Musial and Erich Heuschele proved that the new Dodge Ram SRT-10 can hang with vehicles much lighter and more expensive.

"It's easy to throw parts at a car, but having the technical support of the engineers who built, own, and race the car themselves made a lot of the decisions very easy to make.
    -- Dale Seeley, one of the drivers of this best-in-class Dodge SRT-4.

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