MoparMan
Enthusiast
Each year the Nevada region of the VCA takes part in the parade lap before the NASCAR Nextel Race at LVMS. Each car participating must be an RT/10 or SRT-10. A driver is assigned to each car and rides either on the sport bar of the RT/10 or the back of the SRT-10 during a driver introduction parade lap. The passenger seat of the Viper is auctioned off to the general public on Thursday before the race with all the proceeds from the auction going to benefit the Speedway Children’s Charities. Needless to say, this event is hugely popular with not only our region but also VCA members from other regions who have participated in this event in the past. The auction raised over $200,000 dollars for Speedway Children’s Charity last year. In association with this event, our region puts on a yearly dinner that it easily our biggest and most popular gathering of the year.
Friday, just a scant four weeks before the race here in Las Vegas, an official from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway contacted our president to let him know that they were canceling the use of the Vipers in this event and will instead be using Dodge Ram pickup trucks. We had been consistently told that this annual event was at least a “98% go” by this official and LVMS for the past three months and thus had continued our planning based on this. The unprofessional attitude shown by the track in canceling our participation at the last minute has affected not only our club directly, but also the Speedway Children’s Charity which is currently advertising the opportunity to ride in a convertible with your favorite driver (see www.speedwaycharities.org).
The replacement of VCA members’ gen I, gen II and gen III Vipers with the new “Daytona Edition” Ram pickups reeks of Dodge’s heavy hand. It’s obvious that:
1) The track could not come up with the necessary number of brand new limited edition trucks on their own to pull this event off without Dodge’s help.
2) Dodge is dying to get their newest poser package (the $3600 Daytona appearance package) for a pedestrian vehicle in front of the NASCAR crowd at which it is aimed.
3) Dodge is tired of the more visually stunning gen I and gen II Vipers upstaging the slow selling gen III.
This has lead me to the conclusion that Dodge, as a major sponsor at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has pushed the track to use the trucks Dodge wants to receive publicity instead of using the Viper which is their forgotten flagship vehicle. Our president was informed that Dodge would provide 22 trucks each of which would carry two drivers in the cab. I guess that leaves the winner of the auctions riding in the bed of the truck of their driver of choice. Ultimately, it will be the charity (who has not yet learned of this development) in the lurch since they have been advertising something that does not now exist and will now be forced to auction something worth far less to their bidders.
Killing the Viper Club of America’s participation in this event at the last minute is just the latest example of Dodge sticking the screws to their (formerly) loyal customers in their relentless pursuit of the short term dollar. If you’ve been a Mopar fan since the muscle car days or even a younger fan who started out revering the old Mopar muscle cars you should be aware that DaimlerChrysler is not interested in your patronage unless you want a four door car. In recent years they seem to have gone out of their way to kick those of us who started out with their muscle cars and have been loyal to the company throughout the front wheel drive K-car derivative days. Previous slaps in the face to long term Dodge loyalists include:
- The introduction of the pig-nosed brick-like four door car that is being called the Charger following the display of a beautifully executed ’99 concept that artfully hid the fact it was a four door. The ‘99 concept was broadly admired among new and old Mopar fans alike and was taken to most major Mopar shows during the last 5 show seasons. Release of the car currently called Charger after the constant display of the **** ’99 Charger concept was like getting stuck with a fat ugly chick after flirting with a hot **** chick all night at the bar.
- The application of the Daytona name to this four door slab sided pig (see photos of the new “Dodge Charger Hemi R/T Daytona” – I think they missed a couple of retro named like AAR, T/A, and SE when they named that one). Chrysler’s marketing people keep ******* out the classic muscle names thinking it will increase short term sales (which it may). In reality, they’re alienating a large group of loyal buyers which will cost them in the long term.
- The application of several classic Mopar muscle names to the Ram as appearance packages (Rumble Bee – a lame play on Bumble Bee, GTX and now Daytona). See comment above regarding the ******* of names.
- The declaration by head designer Trevor Creed that two doors are dead and that Dodge and Chrysler will be moving away from two door cars. It’s only a matter of time before the Challenger or ‘cuda names are brought back and applied to a four door hatchback.
- The declaration by head designer Trevor Creed that the new Charger is the natural evolution of the Charger to modern day followed by the conflicting declaration that the new Charger has nothing to do with the old ones further followed by another statement indicating that if loyal buyers now complaining about the new Charger don’t like it they can go buy an old Charger. Such a cavalier attitude toward customers will surely come back to haunt the company.
Killing the NASCAR event (which I do not even participate in since I own a GTS) is just another nail in the coffin of my loyalty to Chrysler. I’ve never owned anything other than a Mopar in my life including a ’68 Charger, ’69 Charger R/T SE and numerous new Mopars but at this point I am strongly considering other brands for my next new vehicles. It’s no wonder they haven’t upped the performance numbers of the SRT-10 – they’re probably planning to kill the Viper off in another year or two, or (even worse) the Viper name is going to go on that next four door hatchback to come out of Trevor Creed’s studio.
Friday, just a scant four weeks before the race here in Las Vegas, an official from the Las Vegas Motor Speedway contacted our president to let him know that they were canceling the use of the Vipers in this event and will instead be using Dodge Ram pickup trucks. We had been consistently told that this annual event was at least a “98% go” by this official and LVMS for the past three months and thus had continued our planning based on this. The unprofessional attitude shown by the track in canceling our participation at the last minute has affected not only our club directly, but also the Speedway Children’s Charity which is currently advertising the opportunity to ride in a convertible with your favorite driver (see www.speedwaycharities.org).
The replacement of VCA members’ gen I, gen II and gen III Vipers with the new “Daytona Edition” Ram pickups reeks of Dodge’s heavy hand. It’s obvious that:
1) The track could not come up with the necessary number of brand new limited edition trucks on their own to pull this event off without Dodge’s help.
2) Dodge is dying to get their newest poser package (the $3600 Daytona appearance package) for a pedestrian vehicle in front of the NASCAR crowd at which it is aimed.
3) Dodge is tired of the more visually stunning gen I and gen II Vipers upstaging the slow selling gen III.
This has lead me to the conclusion that Dodge, as a major sponsor at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, has pushed the track to use the trucks Dodge wants to receive publicity instead of using the Viper which is their forgotten flagship vehicle. Our president was informed that Dodge would provide 22 trucks each of which would carry two drivers in the cab. I guess that leaves the winner of the auctions riding in the bed of the truck of their driver of choice. Ultimately, it will be the charity (who has not yet learned of this development) in the lurch since they have been advertising something that does not now exist and will now be forced to auction something worth far less to their bidders.
Killing the Viper Club of America’s participation in this event at the last minute is just the latest example of Dodge sticking the screws to their (formerly) loyal customers in their relentless pursuit of the short term dollar. If you’ve been a Mopar fan since the muscle car days or even a younger fan who started out revering the old Mopar muscle cars you should be aware that DaimlerChrysler is not interested in your patronage unless you want a four door car. In recent years they seem to have gone out of their way to kick those of us who started out with their muscle cars and have been loyal to the company throughout the front wheel drive K-car derivative days. Previous slaps in the face to long term Dodge loyalists include:
- The introduction of the pig-nosed brick-like four door car that is being called the Charger following the display of a beautifully executed ’99 concept that artfully hid the fact it was a four door. The ‘99 concept was broadly admired among new and old Mopar fans alike and was taken to most major Mopar shows during the last 5 show seasons. Release of the car currently called Charger after the constant display of the **** ’99 Charger concept was like getting stuck with a fat ugly chick after flirting with a hot **** chick all night at the bar.
- The application of the Daytona name to this four door slab sided pig (see photos of the new “Dodge Charger Hemi R/T Daytona” – I think they missed a couple of retro named like AAR, T/A, and SE when they named that one). Chrysler’s marketing people keep ******* out the classic muscle names thinking it will increase short term sales (which it may). In reality, they’re alienating a large group of loyal buyers which will cost them in the long term.
- The application of several classic Mopar muscle names to the Ram as appearance packages (Rumble Bee – a lame play on Bumble Bee, GTX and now Daytona). See comment above regarding the ******* of names.
- The declaration by head designer Trevor Creed that two doors are dead and that Dodge and Chrysler will be moving away from two door cars. It’s only a matter of time before the Challenger or ‘cuda names are brought back and applied to a four door hatchback.
- The declaration by head designer Trevor Creed that the new Charger is the natural evolution of the Charger to modern day followed by the conflicting declaration that the new Charger has nothing to do with the old ones further followed by another statement indicating that if loyal buyers now complaining about the new Charger don’t like it they can go buy an old Charger. Such a cavalier attitude toward customers will surely come back to haunt the company.
Killing the NASCAR event (which I do not even participate in since I own a GTS) is just another nail in the coffin of my loyalty to Chrysler. I’ve never owned anything other than a Mopar in my life including a ’68 Charger, ’69 Charger R/T SE and numerous new Mopars but at this point I am strongly considering other brands for my next new vehicles. It’s no wonder they haven’t upped the performance numbers of the SRT-10 – they’re probably planning to kill the Viper off in another year or two, or (even worse) the Viper name is going to go on that next four door hatchback to come out of Trevor Creed’s studio.
