Mopar Speed news 2004-08-16

Mopar Speed
Monday, August 16, 2004

WoO 2Lasoski uses Mopar power to win fourth Knoxville Nationals title

Danny Lasoski drove a nearly flawless race to add to his impressive Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway statistics by winning his fourth Knoxville Nationals title on Saturday night. Lasoski, a seven-time Knoxville Raceway champion, captured his 84th A-main feature event win at the track by driving the Mopar-powered No. 20 car from Tony Stewart Motorsports to victory in the 44th annual event. "The Dude" earned $125,000 for his efforts.

Lasoski won the second preliminary night A-main feature event on Thursday en route to his Knoxville Nationals triumph. "The Dude" worked his way through traffic handily on both nights to put his Mopar-powered mount into Victory Lane. The team has now earned nine World of Outlaws A-main feature event wins on the season.

Daryn Pittman scored a big win for Mopar on Friday night, winning the Kele World Challenge at Knoxville, a special race for international drivers who earn points throughout the season at events in both America and Australia. Pittman drove the Gaerte-built Mopar-powered No. 21 machine to a decisive victory over the 16-car field in the 20-lap feature.

The Knoxville Nationals were broadcast live on Speed Channel, and a replay of the event will air Friday, August 20 at 3 p.m, EST. Highlights from the event can be seen on August 21 at 8 p.m.,EST and September 10 at 5 p.m., EST.

The Outlaws race next at Rocky Mountain National Speedway tomorrow before traveling to Billings (Mont.) Motorsports Park for action this Friday and Saturday.

"This is the fourth time I've won the Knoxville Nationals -- our third with Tony Stewart -- and it just keeps getting better!

"I can't say enough about the Mopar engines that Paul Kistler builds for us. It's our second Nationals win with Mopar, too. Totally awesome!"
    Danny Lasoski, after winning the Knoxville Nationals Saturday evening.

USAC
Steele sweeps Salem

"To add my name to such a short list is an honor, and it's one we earned as a team. To win this doubleheader makes for a great night for both of our teams. The crews provided me with strong cars for both races, and our Mopar engines definitely gave us an opportunity to win both events."
    Dave Steele

Dave Steele used Mopar power to win two races and join an elite group on Saturday, sweeping the James O'Connell Classic at Salem (Ind.) Speedway. Steele won both the USAC National Midget Car and Sprint Car Series races, joining Pancho Carter and Jeff Gordon as the only drivers in history to accomplish the event sweep.

Steele drove the No. 20 Mopar machine from Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises to the front and led the final 32 circuits of the 50-lap sprint car feature. In the midget race, Steele led the last four laps to put the No. 2 Mopar from Nicholas Motorsports into Victory Lane.

Jay Drake finished seventh in the sprint car portion of the event, in the No. 20s Mopar from Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises. His teammate Cory Kruseman and the No. 21 Mopar team were credited with a 21st-place finish.

In the midget race, Drake drove the No. 11 Mopar from Wilke-PAK Motorsports to the No. 1 qualifying spot and finished third. Josh Wise won the second heat race in the No. 20 Mopar entry from Tony Stewart Racing Enterprises and landed in 12th place to maintain his second place standing in the USAC National Midget championship race.

Drake continues to lead the USAC National Sprint Series points, while Kruseman is currently third.

This Saturday, Drake will compete for his fourth consecutive Silver Crown win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The USAC National Sprint and Midget Car Series will both return to action August 27--28 at Nazareth Speedway.

NHRA FC
Scelzi moves to second in points; Schumacher racks up sixth win

Behind the Hemi® power of his Oakley Dodge Stratus Funny Car, Gary Scelzi stormed his way into second place in the FC standings after a strong runner-up finish at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway yesterday.

Scelzi knocked off Tony Bartone and Cruz Pedregon before facing point leader John Force in the semis, where Scelzi stole the win from Force on a holeshot.

"It just feels good," Scelzi said of the holeshot win over Force. "I mean, he's the 12-time champ and he's the one everybody fears. We raced him smart and that's what we're trying to do each time."

In the final, Scelzi nailed a big advantage off the Tree but lost traction at half-track, where Eric Medlen drove past him for the win.

Scelzi's Don Schumacher Racing teammate Whit Bazemore, who is right behind Scelzi in the point standings in third, got knocked out in the first round by Tommy Johnson Jr.

Tony Schumacher drove his Hemi-powered U.S. Army Dragster to his sixth Top Fuel win of the season at Brainerd. With the holeshot win, the Don Schumacher Racing driver extended his Top Fuel point lead to 122 over second-place driver Doug Kalitta.

The NHRA POWERade series is scheduled to race this weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park. Bazemore was winner and No. 1 qualifier at Memphis in 2003. Scelzi won the Top Fuel class there in 2000. Tony Schumacher also won at the Tennessee track in 2003. Check out TV coverage on ESPN2 both Saturday and Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight, EST.

"Our goal is to be No. 1 and we're going to work as hard as we possibly can to get that. We're very happy to go from fourth to second. I'm very proud of [crew chief] Mike Neff and I'm very proud of this team to have become contenders.

"There's a lot of racing left (seven races). I've been 215 points behind going into Indy (in Top Fuel) - the 18th season race of 23 - and came out of Reading (the 19th) in the lead, so things can change in a hurry and Force is within reach, that's for sure."
    Gary Scelzi, now second in Funny Car points. This is the highest position he's held in this class since entering the category in 2002. Six races ago, Scelzi held the sixth position, but has been quickly ascending to the top of the pole.

NCTS
Musgrave scores another top-three at Nashville

"The Mopar truck was really good to start with and I think everybody pretty much guessed on the setup due to the ARCA race that happened before us but we were pretty close. I can't complain as far as having a top-three truck all day long. We're pretty happy it gets us back up in the point fight again."
    Ted Musgrave

Ted Musgrave moved up in the points with a great effort from behind the wheel of the No. 1 Mopar Dodge Ram from Ultra Motorsports Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway.

Musgrave brought the truck home in third place after battling among the leaders all day. The podium finish marks the fourth straight year that the Mopar team has finished second or third at Nashville.

Musgrave moved up one place in the NCTS standings to sixth. His performance also earned Musgrave his second Featherlite Most Improved Driver Award of the year.

The NCTS is scheduled to race next at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on August 25. Stay tuned to moparspeed.com for an event preview next Monday.

WoO LM
Francis picks up more top-10s, leads standings

Team Mopar driver Steve Francis continues to lead the point standings of the World of Outlaws Late Model series. In racing action last week, he picked up two top-10 finishes, including a fourth at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa., on Friday and a seventh at Davenport (Iowa) Speedway last Tuesday.

The next sanctioned WoO Late Model event is scheduled Aug. 28 at Milan (Tenn.) Speedway. Francis has earned 4064 points this season, 25 more than his nearest rival.

Steve Francis currently leads the WoO Late Model point standings, as well as the money earned rankings.

NHRA PS
Morgan leads Pro Stockers

Larry Morgan qualified in the top-two for the fourth time this season at Brainerd. On Sunday, Morgan chalked up his 19th round win of the season.

Larry Morgan picked up a round win and qualified second at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway over the weekend to lead Team Mopar's Pro Stock charge. Morgan knocked off Mark Whisnant in the first round before being edged to the line in the quarterfinals by eventual winner Dave Connolly.

Kenny Koretsky and V. Gaines qualified well (fourth and tenth, respectively) with their Larry Morgan-built Hemi power, but were unable to advance past the opening round. Allen Johnson and team driver Mike Corvo Jr. each just missed the bump in their Mopar Dodge Stratus vehicles by a few thousandths of a second.

Morgan leads Team Mopar in the Pro Stock point standings in the fifth overall position. Koretsky and Johnson stand 11th and 14th, respectively, while Gaines and Corvo have ascended to 17th and 24th.

The NHRA POWERade series is scheduled to race this weekend at Memphis Motorsports Park. Morgan won the Pro Stock class when the NHRA visited Memphis in 1990. Check out TV coverage on ESPN2 both Saturday and Sunday from 10 p.m. to midnight, EST.

News

24th annual Mopar Nationals bring crowds, cars to Columbus

National Trail Raceway near Columbus, Ohio, was Mopar heaven for tens of thousands of Mopar enthusiasts over the weekend, as vintage and contemporary muscle from Mopar highlighted the 24th annual Mopar Nationals.

The largest gathering of a single marque in the world, the Mopar Nationals again featured several thousand pristine examples of Mopar power, along with racing, swap meets, cruise nights and more.

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