• The Team Mopar® duo of Kevin Swindell and Brady Bacon are ready to fight for their first Border Wars title
• Defending champ Jerry Coons Jr. is among the large Mopar-powered Border Wars contingent
Center Line, Mich. —Kevin Swindell of Team Mopar® leads the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Sprint Car Series standings as he heads into one of the most interesting “mini-championships” in American motorsports. Border Wars 2007 opens on Friday, April 27 at the Gas City I-69 Speedway in Gas City, Ind. The closing round takes place on Saturday, April 28 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Celebrating USAC’s rich Indiana-Ohio heritage, this year’s edition takes place at two ovals on opposing ends of the dirt-track spectrum. As always, the driver with the best average finish over the two nights will be crowned Border Wars champion.
Kevin Swindell and Brady Bacon ready to fight for first Border Wars title
Swindell, 18, and his Kasey Kahne Racing teammate, Brady Bacon, 17, should feel right at home at Gas City. The Team Mopar duo has already done a bit of “bullring” racing in 2007, including last week’s USAC stop at Lawrenceburg, Ind. They finished second and third, respectively. But there’s always a lot of anticipation, and even apprehension, heading into the event at Eldora due to the track’s flat-out nature.
By his own count, Swindell has raced “eight or 10 times” at Eldora. Those outings were in winged Sprint Car vehicles, as opposed to the non-winged USAC Sprints, which require a vastly different driving technique. He calls the track “one of my favorites places to run with a wing,” but acknowledges that his past runs there will mean little this weekend.
“Eldora is a place you’ve got to give a lot of respect,” Swindell said. “It’s fast, and it’s easy to get caught up in something there. But we’ve got really good cars, so I think we’ll be looking good.”
Bacon is already a favorite with Eldora’s notoriously rabid fans. He competed in both the Sprint Car and Midget Series portions at the 4-Crown Nationals in September 2006. The 4-Crown Nationals is the USAC’s signature event at the Western Ohio track. He won over the crowd with his forceful third-place run in the Sprint Car feature.
“It took me a few trial-and-error laps to get comfortable at Eldora,” Bacon admits. “But once things clicked, we were competitive with everybody there. I’m excited to go back.”
It’s worth noting that both Bacon and Swindell cite mechanic and crew chief Davey Jones as a reason for their confidence. Jones, who joined Kasey Kahne Racing this past winter, has himself made several visits to the Eldora winner’s circle while working with other teams.
Defending champ Jerry Coons Jr. among large Mopar-powered Border Wars contingent
Jerry Coons Jr. is the defending Border Wars champion. Few would lay odds against the Arizona driver winning a second straight crown. Coons’ prowess in close-quarters, short-track action always serves him well at tracks like Gas City. His Hoffman Auto Racing entry has historically been one of the cars to beat at Eldora with any number of drivers holding the steering wheel.
Other Mopar-powered competitors at both Border Wars events are expected to include Damion Gardner and Darren Hagen. Gardner is a California racer coming off two terrific seasons on the West Coast’s USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series. He will pilot a Mopar-powered machined owned by NASCAR Busch Series star and four-time USAC champion Jason Leffler. Hagen is also from California – though he makes his home in Indiana. He’ll pilot a Sprinter from the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable. Hagen finished a very close third (behind winner Marc Jessup and runner-up Dave Steele) in a Mopar “podium sweep” of the most recent USAC National Sprint Car Series event at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway. Young Oklahoman Donnie Ray Crawford will join Hagen as part of the Kunz team on Friday night at Gas City, with the possibility of an Eldora run on Saturday.
70 Years of Mopar
When Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, the need for a dedicated parts manufacturer, supplier and distribution system to support the growing enterprise led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Corporation (CMPC) in 1929.
Originally used in the 1920s, Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked for a line of antifreeze products in 1937. It was also widely used as a moniker for the CMPC. The Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s – the muscle car era. The Chrysler Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth “package cars” equipped with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of “Special Parts” for super stock drag racers and developed its racing parts division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use.
Today, the Chrysler Group’s Global Service & Parts division is responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of nearly 250,000 authentic Mopar replacement parts, components and accessories for Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles sold around the world. To assure quality, reliability and durability, all Mopar parts and accessories are designed in strict adherence to DaimlerChrysler engineering standards.
• Defending champ Jerry Coons Jr. is among the large Mopar-powered Border Wars contingent
Center Line, Mich. —Kevin Swindell of Team Mopar® leads the United States Auto Club (USAC) National Sprint Car Series standings as he heads into one of the most interesting “mini-championships” in American motorsports. Border Wars 2007 opens on Friday, April 27 at the Gas City I-69 Speedway in Gas City, Ind. The closing round takes place on Saturday, April 28 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Celebrating USAC’s rich Indiana-Ohio heritage, this year’s edition takes place at two ovals on opposing ends of the dirt-track spectrum. As always, the driver with the best average finish over the two nights will be crowned Border Wars champion.
Kevin Swindell and Brady Bacon ready to fight for first Border Wars title
Swindell, 18, and his Kasey Kahne Racing teammate, Brady Bacon, 17, should feel right at home at Gas City. The Team Mopar duo has already done a bit of “bullring” racing in 2007, including last week’s USAC stop at Lawrenceburg, Ind. They finished second and third, respectively. But there’s always a lot of anticipation, and even apprehension, heading into the event at Eldora due to the track’s flat-out nature.
By his own count, Swindell has raced “eight or 10 times” at Eldora. Those outings were in winged Sprint Car vehicles, as opposed to the non-winged USAC Sprints, which require a vastly different driving technique. He calls the track “one of my favorites places to run with a wing,” but acknowledges that his past runs there will mean little this weekend.
“Eldora is a place you’ve got to give a lot of respect,” Swindell said. “It’s fast, and it’s easy to get caught up in something there. But we’ve got really good cars, so I think we’ll be looking good.”
Bacon is already a favorite with Eldora’s notoriously rabid fans. He competed in both the Sprint Car and Midget Series portions at the 4-Crown Nationals in September 2006. The 4-Crown Nationals is the USAC’s signature event at the Western Ohio track. He won over the crowd with his forceful third-place run in the Sprint Car feature.
“It took me a few trial-and-error laps to get comfortable at Eldora,” Bacon admits. “But once things clicked, we were competitive with everybody there. I’m excited to go back.”
It’s worth noting that both Bacon and Swindell cite mechanic and crew chief Davey Jones as a reason for their confidence. Jones, who joined Kasey Kahne Racing this past winter, has himself made several visits to the Eldora winner’s circle while working with other teams.
Defending champ Jerry Coons Jr. among large Mopar-powered Border Wars contingent
Jerry Coons Jr. is the defending Border Wars champion. Few would lay odds against the Arizona driver winning a second straight crown. Coons’ prowess in close-quarters, short-track action always serves him well at tracks like Gas City. His Hoffman Auto Racing entry has historically been one of the cars to beat at Eldora with any number of drivers holding the steering wheel.
Other Mopar-powered competitors at both Border Wars events are expected to include Damion Gardner and Darren Hagen. Gardner is a California racer coming off two terrific seasons on the West Coast’s USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series. He will pilot a Mopar-powered machined owned by NASCAR Busch Series star and four-time USAC champion Jason Leffler. Hagen is also from California – though he makes his home in Indiana. He’ll pilot a Sprinter from the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable. Hagen finished a very close third (behind winner Marc Jessup and runner-up Dave Steele) in a Mopar “podium sweep” of the most recent USAC National Sprint Car Series event at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway. Young Oklahoman Donnie Ray Crawford will join Hagen as part of the Kunz team on Friday night at Gas City, with the possibility of an Eldora run on Saturday.
70 Years of Mopar
When Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, the need for a dedicated parts manufacturer, supplier and distribution system to support the growing enterprise led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Corporation (CMPC) in 1929.
Originally used in the 1920s, Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked for a line of antifreeze products in 1937. It was also widely used as a moniker for the CMPC. The Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s – the muscle car era. The Chrysler Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth “package cars” equipped with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of “Special Parts” for super stock drag racers and developed its racing parts division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use.
Today, the Chrysler Group’s Global Service & Parts division is responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of nearly 250,000 authentic Mopar replacement parts, components and accessories for Chrysler, Jeep® and Dodge vehicles sold around the world. To assure quality, reliability and durability, all Mopar parts and accessories are designed in strict adherence to DaimlerChrysler engineering standards.
