[Allpar News System]

On February 26, at 3:45 pm, Allpar reported, based on driver Luke Johnson’s comments on his Facebook page, that Mopar may have dropped its support for TORC racing; we were unable at the time to get confirmation, and quickly pulled the story. Today, however, Pietro Gorlier, President and CEO of Mopar, confirmed that Mopar is dropping factory support for the series: Mopar and Ram were fortunate to have two great years in the TORC series and to affiliate our brands with such high quality athletes. Our brands are always looking for interesting new avenues that allow us to maximize our investments and gain new audiences. With that in mind, we formed a good relationship and valued our participation with TORC to demonstrate the capabilities of our products. We did so by winning five out of six possible championship titles in those two years (PRO 2wd, PRO 4x4 and PRO..

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[finc.jb]

I don't even know what to say anymore. I guess all the factory racing will be with Viper and Ferrari.

 

[drew54]

It would be nice if they are going to sponsor Robby Gordon's Super Stadium Trucks. I won't hold my breath.

 

[PCRMike]

Okay. Dominate an area that others will watch and keep on dominating it. Chevy and Ford didn't sell so well over the years because they owned NASCAR and then walked. Sheesh.

 

[tomaz]

good... The Trucks were far from Factory anyway, would like to see more "Baja" racing sponsored by Mopar using the Ram Runner as a bases

 

[MoparNorm]

This is one of the many reasons why it hard to get teams and drivers to change to Mopar.
Inconsistent support, short term commitments, here today, gone tomorrow. No team or organization can trust Mopar to be there for the long term.
Drivers and teams do not forget such lack of loyalty.
Penske, Gordon, Jeep Speed, the list of dropped teams and teams hung out to dry by Mopar is really disturbing.
I hope NHRA teams have a back up plan.
This is really bad for brand loyalty.

 

[Muther]

This is one of the many reasons why it hard to get teams and drivers to change to Mopar.
Inconsistent support, short term commitments, here today, gone tomorrow. No team or organization can trust Mopar to be there for the long term.
Drivers and teams do not forget such lack of loyalty.
Penske, Gordon, Jeep Speed, the list of dropped teams and teams hung out to dry by Mopar is really disturbing.
I hope NHRA teams have a back up plan.
This is really bad for brand loyalty.

Yup.

This stinks to high heaven.

 

[MoparNorm]

Yup.

This stinks to high heaven.

Yep, my friend with the only Mopar sponsored Ultra 4 car, lost his support and had to switch to Chevy. It broke his heart and mine.
The last few months have tested the soul of Mopar fans, that's for sure.
The interlopers are punching us in the gut and then kicking us while we are down.
If nothing remains of the old Mopar, Dodge Truck and Jeeps,...what actually did Fiat "save"?

 

[con383]

You know i may be wrong in saying this but that IPO is looking more attractive from were i sit,

 

[skooter]

I have been and will remain a fan of the mopar brand. Its in my blood from childhood watching my dads friends 354/392 powered hemi dirt cars in western PA. Some of you may remember Joe Pitkavich and his legendary hemi cars that ruled the western pa dirt. Having said, I am ashamed of the brand and simply wish they would stay as far away from motorsports competition as possible. Cause as soon as they start winning again they pull their money and go home. I figure its only a matter of one or two more seasons and Roy and son AJ will be on their own again. Jeg will get out or go back to bowties and history will once again repeat. Racing is not just about money folks. Why do you think theyre trying so hard to discredit the records of the "King"? and his legendary "200" wins/ 7 Championships. Not to mention the number of times he finished second to the title holder and 160 some second place finishes. Folks like mcreynolds and spencer have the lead on this in nascar. I think im done. Lets go home its time to go. we don't have the heart for this and the folks running Chrysler have no idea from where they came.

 

[BASONE88]

It's hard to spin this positively..always hated to see them pull their support. Unfortunately there is a pattern. The focus is on SRT, the Dart, and NHRA. Also, there is some sponsorship w/Suzuki-Carmichael/Hart racing. Historically, the brand has never had a huge racing budget.

 

[suzq044]

It's hard to spin this positively..always hated to see them pull their support. Unfortunately there is a pattern. The focus is on SRT, the Dart, and NHRA. Also, there is some sponsorship w/Suzuki-Carmichael/Hart racing. Historically, the brand has never had a huge racing budget.

The Dart is racing in the wrong field, as it were. It's huge compared to all the competitors, which are subCompacts, at this point. They need to have a subcompact to run GRC, (or even the Fiat500) and move the Dart to something like WTCC, which it would probably excel with.

 

[BASONE88]

You are probably right suz!

It's just doesn't seem like the Dart deserves all the credit for poor results. Isn't the internal (meaning not the outer body shell) 100% race car?..so the fact that we see a Dart racing around has nothing to do with the reality underneath the skin.

 

[dakrt99]

Personally, I didn't even know they had a team. I am in favor of Mopar sponsoring drag racing only and Chrysler to get even more serious about Viper racing. They need Team ORECA back, in a bad way. Those are the only two areas I care about. Chrysler/Mopar isn't big enough to throw money everywhere. They need to shrink and focus. If they drop NHRA, I won't know what to think? I won't Chrysler to get back into FIA. Would love to see Vipers racing in Europe again.

Honestly, would love to see them enter LeMans Prototype. Yummy. I have the 2001 24HRS on tape.

 

[JavelinAMX]

Personally, I didn't even know they had a team. I am in favor of Mopar sponsoring drag racing only and Chrysler to get even more serious about Viper racing. They need Team ORECA back, in a bad way. Those are the only two areas I care about. Chrysler/Mopar isn't big enough to throw money everywhere. They need to shrink and focus. If they drop NHRA, I won't know what to think? I won't Chrysler to get back into FIA. Would love to see Vipers racing in Europe again.

Honestly, would love to see them enter LeMans Prototype. Yummy. I have the 2001 24HRS on tape.

I join you in that; but I wonder what engine or engines they'd use.

I also fondly remember the Shelby Can-Am style Dodge V6 powered cars from way back. Would love to see that rekindled ( or something very much like it ).

I'm wondering if there's an NHRA class that the Dart would fit into and perform well? I used to be much more aware of Drag Racing classes and some of the rules, but it's been way too long to remember.

 

[suzq044]

Me412 engine.. jk

 

[JavelinAMX]

The Dart is racing in the wrong field, as it were. It's huge compared to all the competitors, which are subCompacts, at this point. They need to have a subcompact to run GRC, (or even the Fiat500) and move the Dart to something like WTCC, which it would probably excel with.

+1 !!!

Me412 engine.. jk

I wouldn't mind ... and I'm not kidding

Maybe a cool project like that would energize the brand, who knows?

 

[dakrt99]

I would love to see them develop the V10 more - pushrods, 4-cam, DI, larger and smaller displacements?

Oh, you mean what would they use for the LMP1 class. Would love to see a Chrysler built engine and not some out-sourced engine. I am a proponent of the manufacturer leading the way, it adds a lot of credibility. I can't remember off-hand what they ran in 2001?

 

[tryphon]

They may race the AlfaRomeo 4C in the American LeMans circuit.

 

[Dave Z]

4C is the polar opposite of Viper in terms of approach: slash the weight rather than grow the engine.