AN: Mopar drops TORC support
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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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.
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.
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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.Muther said:
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"?
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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.
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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.
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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 said:
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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.
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.
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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.
Honestly, would love to see them enter LeMans Prototype. Yummy. I have the 2001 24HRS on tape.
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I join you in that; but I wonder what engine or engines they'd use.dakrt99 said:
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.
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+1 !!!suzq044 said:
I wouldn't mind ... and I'm not kiddingsuzq044 said:
Maybe a cool project like that would energize the brand, who knows?
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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?
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?
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