DaveAdmin said:
Norm, isn't that the way it's always been? I remember the same complaints in the 1980s. I suspect there was a time between the 392 and stronger Wedges that people were saying it.
One does need to be consistent in racing support, I think, and you are absolutely right that Chrysler is not.
I may go back farther than you do, Dave, but I can tell you that back in the 60s and early 70s, under racing "Tzar" Ronny Householder, there was enthusiastic company support for Chrysler racers in Nascar, USAC (the #2 stock series @ that time), ARCA, Nascar East & West, IMCA (now defunct), Sprint cars, and, of course, NHRA. There was even a factory backed effort to run a Chrysler small block in IRL when stock blocks were encouraged. Any Chrysler racer with a reputation coud get through to somebody in the company racing heirarchy for tech information and a line to hard to get parts/pieces. The wins and championships in the afforementioned series were literally "a dime-a-dozen" (subject for another thread?) and the company still lives off the "performance" reputation today that it garnered in those years. Even after Mr Householder retired and the company hit some hard times, his legacy lived on with the "Direct Connection" program which gave Mopar racers direct access to performance engineers at the company well up into the 80s when the head of the company decided that it would be better off being known as the "minivan" company. Even then, there was factory supported activity - Jimmy Sills won a Silver Crown sprint car championship for Mopar in the 80s and Mark Kinser won a World of Outlaws championship w/Mopar power in 1999, if this tired ol' memory is still serving me correctly.
So, no, it's not the way that it's always been. This time period, right now, is the worst that it has ever been, imo, at least in my lifetime. There is literally ZERO, ZILCH, NADA competitive Chrysler participation in any major US racing series except NHRA and the Viper program. This from a company with a whole division and brand dedicated to "performance".