• Kasey Kahne Racing teammates Bacon and Sweet are set for O’Reilly Raceway Park
• Two-time Midget champ Coons is looking to rebound
• USAC Mopar National Midget Car Series
Center Line, Mich. — Team Mopar® drivers will be among the heavy favorites when the stars and cars of the United States Auto Club (USAC) invade the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis for the 63rd annual “Night Before the 500” Midget Classic on Saturday, May 24.
The “Night Before the 500” is one of the most traditional events in open-wheel racing that attracts crowds of race-hungry spectators on the eve before the Indianapolis 500, which is held the next day just several miles away. This year’s “Night Before the 500” is the seventh stop on the Mopar National Midget Car Series, recognized as America’s premier Midget circuit. ORP, a 5/8-mile asphalt oval, is one of the tour’s cornerstone tracks.
Legendary Indy 500 entrants like Foyt, Bettenhausen, Kenyon and Parsons to more recent USAC graduates like Tony Stewart, J.J. Yeley and Jason Leffler have competed in this Midget race over the years.
Kasey Kahne Racing teammates Bacon and Sweet are set for ORP
Kasey Kahne Racing’s one-two punch of Brady Bacon and Brad Sweet are expected to be in contention for top honors in the “Night Before the 500.” Though both young drivers – Bacon is 18-years-old and Sweet is 22-years-old – have cut their teeth on dirt tracks, each has displayed terrific versatility with KKR. KKR campaigns both Midget and Sprint Cars along the USAC trail.
Last May, Bacon shocked many of his experienced rivals by setting fast time in qualifications at ORP. As for Sweet, he would love nothing better than to follow in the footsteps of the man he replaced at KKR, Kevin Swindell. Swindell dominated the 2007 running of the “Night Before the 500.” Although he’s still new to pavement racing, Sweet has looked very competitive in the opening asphalt events of the ’08 season.
Two-time Midget champ Coons is looking to rebound
Jerry Coons Jr., two-time and defending USAC Midget champion, is off to a tough start in 2008. Although his long career has been marked by victories and consistency, various incidents led to the popular Arizona driver posting finishes of third, 14th and 15th in the first three events in this year’s Mopar National Midget Car Series. With 28 events on the schedule, Coons and his Wilke-Pak Racing team have plenty of time to recover. They hope the “Night Before the 500” might provide exactly the spark they need to turn things around. Coons is always a player in “marquee” events and his Stanton-built Mopar engines should serve him well at a horsepower track like ORP.
Other Team Mopar drivers expected to compete include young Dakoda Armstrong, Mario Marietta, Bradley Galedrige and Mario Clouser.
USAC Mopar National Midget Car Series
Dating back to the 1930s, midget racing is one of the oldest forms of automobile racing in the United States, combining power-to-weight ratio with small frames to create action-packed racing events. In recent years, the series has been the battleground for younger drivers establishing professional careers as racers. The four-cylinder engines powering midgets today are developed using the latest technological advances from automobile manufacturers supporting the series. In 2008, Mopar assumed the title sponsorship of USAC’s Midget tour, thus establishing the Mopar National Midget Car Series. For more information, visit http://www.usacracing.com.
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, Chrysler LLC’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 Chrysler Engineering standards.
• Two-time Midget champ Coons is looking to rebound
• USAC Mopar National Midget Car Series
Center Line, Mich. — Team Mopar® drivers will be among the heavy favorites when the stars and cars of the United States Auto Club (USAC) invade the O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis for the 63rd annual “Night Before the 500” Midget Classic on Saturday, May 24.
The “Night Before the 500” is one of the most traditional events in open-wheel racing that attracts crowds of race-hungry spectators on the eve before the Indianapolis 500, which is held the next day just several miles away. This year’s “Night Before the 500” is the seventh stop on the Mopar National Midget Car Series, recognized as America’s premier Midget circuit. ORP, a 5/8-mile asphalt oval, is one of the tour’s cornerstone tracks.
Legendary Indy 500 entrants like Foyt, Bettenhausen, Kenyon and Parsons to more recent USAC graduates like Tony Stewart, J.J. Yeley and Jason Leffler have competed in this Midget race over the years.
Kasey Kahne Racing teammates Bacon and Sweet are set for ORP
Kasey Kahne Racing’s one-two punch of Brady Bacon and Brad Sweet are expected to be in contention for top honors in the “Night Before the 500.” Though both young drivers – Bacon is 18-years-old and Sweet is 22-years-old – have cut their teeth on dirt tracks, each has displayed terrific versatility with KKR. KKR campaigns both Midget and Sprint Cars along the USAC trail.
Last May, Bacon shocked many of his experienced rivals by setting fast time in qualifications at ORP. As for Sweet, he would love nothing better than to follow in the footsteps of the man he replaced at KKR, Kevin Swindell. Swindell dominated the 2007 running of the “Night Before the 500.” Although he’s still new to pavement racing, Sweet has looked very competitive in the opening asphalt events of the ’08 season.
Two-time Midget champ Coons is looking to rebound
Jerry Coons Jr., two-time and defending USAC Midget champion, is off to a tough start in 2008. Although his long career has been marked by victories and consistency, various incidents led to the popular Arizona driver posting finishes of third, 14th and 15th in the first three events in this year’s Mopar National Midget Car Series. With 28 events on the schedule, Coons and his Wilke-Pak Racing team have plenty of time to recover. They hope the “Night Before the 500” might provide exactly the spark they need to turn things around. Coons is always a player in “marquee” events and his Stanton-built Mopar engines should serve him well at a horsepower track like ORP.
Other Team Mopar drivers expected to compete include young Dakoda Armstrong, Mario Marietta, Bradley Galedrige and Mario Clouser.
USAC Mopar National Midget Car Series
Dating back to the 1930s, midget racing is one of the oldest forms of automobile racing in the United States, combining power-to-weight ratio with small frames to create action-packed racing events. In recent years, the series has been the battleground for younger drivers establishing professional careers as racers. The four-cylinder engines powering midgets today are developed using the latest technological advances from automobile manufacturers supporting the series. In 2008, Mopar assumed the title sponsorship of USAC’s Midget tour, thus establishing the Mopar National Midget Car Series. For more information, visit http://www.usacracing.com.
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, Chrysler LLC’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 Chrysler Engineering standards.
