Association Rekindled
Don Schumacher, who drove his series of Stardust Dodge and Plymouth-bodied Funny Cars from 1966-'74, announced in January a multi-year partnership agreement with DaimlerChrysler to run the Dodge Stratus R/T Funny Car body, beginning with the '03 NHRA POWERade drag-racing season. In February, the Schumacher-owned Funny Car teams of Whit Bazemore (sponsored by Matco Tools) and Gary Scelzi (sponsored by Oakley) will make their Dodge debuts during the NHRA season-opening K&N Filters Winternationals at Pomona Raceway in California.
"I can't tell you how excited I am to be reunited with the Dodge/Mopar family and to have some state-of-the-art engineering support made available to us from a manufacturer that's as committed and dedicated as we are to raise the performance level," says Don. "Dodge and Mopar have a storied history in motorsports, and we are proud to be part of that tradition."
"Everyone here is excited to see what our Dodge Stratus R/T body can do with a Don Schumacher Racing tune," says Brett Fisher, drag-racing program manager for DaimlerChrysler. "In terms of modern era race wins and round wins, being partnered with Don Schumacher Racing for the '03 season and beyond brings an unprecedented level of competence to the Mopar/Dodge Funny Car program. Even during our early discussions of reuniting Schumacher and Mopar, we recognized the commitment to win from Schumacher's team, and nothing inspires and motivates people like working with proven winners and champions."
The Funny Car class announcement follows a severing of factory sponsorship ties between Mopar and the father-and-son team of Don and Dean Skuza. The Skuzas ran Team Mopar's flagship car over the past few seasons. What brand body the Skuza team will run in 2003 is still subject to some conjecture.
As part of the DaimlerChrylser agreement, one of the Schumacher Racing's Funny Cars will be clad with a special-edition Mopar paint scheme during the 24th Annual Mopar Parts Mile-High Nationals at Denver's Bandimere Speedway in July.
Show Stopper!
One of the most unique and fan-favorite Mopar Sportsman cars anywhere in North America was conceived and constructed by Colorado's Shawn Kennedy. Based out of Denver, Kennedy's spectacular '49 Plymouth business coupe is all Mopar, featuring a truly reliable 434 Chrysler Wedge engine, which is a .030 over 383 equipped with a 440 crank.
"The engine is a very mild combination, much like what is used in the Busch Grand National Series," reveals Kennedy. "It's a low-compression motor with a mild roller cam."
Kennedy's machine, which literally evolved from the junkyard to a racecar, is also street driven. He campaigns the car within the Super-Gas class using street-legal tires and mufflers. The car has an all-steel body except for a fiberglass hood. Fellow class racer Kevin Burnett applied a car-show-quality paint scheme. The car's amazing final results acted as a springboard for Kennedy into the racecar-building business, as he now owns Kennedy Race Cars Inc. in Denver, Colorado.