“We came out here to test and explore the limits of the car,” Ralph Gilles says. “This is a very respected track. There’s some history here. So at the back of our hearts there was some pull to come back here.” Just after the record-breaking run, Gilles shed his own race suit (for just a few minutes) to say a few words about this historic occasion, at a track that has a lot of historic significance for Dodge. You can watch a quick clip of it to the left.
“The car has been a lot more successful than we ever imagined,” Gilles admits. “There’s some very serious Dodge legend being built again here, and I really like that. That’s a dimension of Viper I really wanted to keep fanning the flames of.”
RALPH GILLES IS THE MAN! Your taking Dodge in the right direction. The Viper ACR is crazy, it’s King of the ‘Ring, now King of Laguna Seca!! Please make it through 2012! I have to wait and pay off my B5 BLUE SRT8 Challenger! I NEED THIS CAR IN MY COLLECTION!!
November 24, 2009 @ 6:45 pm
also, post the full lap if you can.
November 24, 2009 @ 6:46 pm
Stay tuned…Dodge will have that lap video up in the next 24 hours.
November 24, 2009 @ 6:48 pm
The Viper is nice, I’d love to have one. The problem is; most of us can’t afford one. If Dodge wants to stir interest in its performance side, they need to jump back into Nascar with both feet! Get back in the Camping World Truck series and stop the Toyota Tundras from dominating there!. Get back into the Nationwide series with more than a feeble effort with Justin Allgier! AND most IMPORTANTLY, get back into the Nascar Sprint Cup series with a SERIOUS effort! GET RPM back into the Dodge camp!!!!!!!! Go after some more teams! AT LEAST, try to get Joe Nemechek or Tommy Baldwin or Bob Jenkins or someone! If not, Dodge will have a TOTAL of ONLY ONE Cup Team; Penske!!!! In comparison, Toyota has eight and is looking for more!!!
November 25, 2009 @ 11:50 pm
Kasey is now voicing his discontent with RPM and stated that he will be looking for a new ride for 2011. Now’s the time for DODGE to step up for the fans and enthusiasts (like the guy who posted above), and get Kasey into the Penske camp so they will have 4 good drivers. As for the equipment, if DODGE is not providing engineering support for this team and engines, then it would be better for DODGE to drop out of Nascircus altogether, because you’ll be the laughing stock. I can see why you would be downsizing your Nascircus efforts due to your current situation of survival, and I can see how you would drop RPM. I would get away from them as fast as possible due to thier crazy antics and crazy leader. The razor salesman couldn’t run a hockey team, let alone a race car team! Kaseys’ the only good driver they have got, the rest are backmarkers to say the least. As for the King, I think he is out of touch with what Nascircus has become. I don’t blame him, but I think now’s the time for him to step away before some other fool destroys his good name.
What about Kasey Kahne Racing? Is DODGE pulling its supports of this organization also?
Kasey is a DODGE man, now don’t hang him out to dry. Get him out of that razor contract and get him in a Penske DODGE for 2010, and then at the very least you might save some grace from your fans. You also stated in your 5 year plan that Nascircus program will be under review, well I am sure you can put together one good 4 car team for us. You’ve cut many teams recently and I am sure you could afford 4 cars.
Please reply to this to let your fans know whats going on.
November 26, 2009 @ 7:09 am
How about going after Kasey to start his own Nascar team with Dodge backing? C’mon Dodge; DO SOMETHING! Personally, I’d rather you simply turn tail and run again as you did in the mid ’70s than to go forward with a feeble effort in Cup!
As far as Dodge hanging a “Dodge Man” such as Kasey out to dry; they’ve done it many times in the past! They’ve hung “The King” Richard Petty out to dry more than once now and he is as much a Dodge man as there ever was in Nascar. Well, there was Buddy Arrington that may have been more of a Dodge guy than the King but they hung him out too. Then there was the Keselowski’s; yeh, that’s the family of Brad Keselowski. They were long-time Mopar folks. Bob, (Brad’s Dad) was running Mopars in ARCA when nobody else was! Then they got sponsorship from Mopar to run in the Nascar Truck series and after a few very successful seasons, Mopar pulled they’re support from them and instead supported Jim Smith, who couldn’t care less what kind of truck he ran (he switched to Toyotas later). So if you think Dodge values brand loyalty, you’re wrong! That’s probably why there are NO loyal Dodge Nascar team owners anymore! Because Dodge won’t stick with them! I admire Jack Roush and his relationship with Ford. They are loyal to each other!
November 29, 2009 @ 7:41 pm
Oh, and one other thing I should say. Hemihead mentioned that he understood, with your current situation of survival, that he understood why you might want to cut back your participation in Nascar. I DON”T!!!! There is no place where you will get a better return on your investment than in Nascar, the most popular motorsport in the country, by FAR! YOU can’t afford NOT to be in Nascar! Unless, of course, you’re planning on ONLY a feeble one-team attempt in the Cup series. If that’s the case, you might want to just pull out of the sport again, and save face, rather than be the laughing stock of the sport! You should either be ALL IN or ALL OUT! Anything in between will just be embarrassing for you and us Dodge fans!
November 29, 2009 @ 7:50 pm
I’ll tell you what is embarrassing and sickens me, is the fact that drivers can leave a dodge
car and switch to another manufacturer and improve their track position by about 10 spots,
or get themselves in the chase for the first time in their racing career. “The King” has recently
made a comment about one of his drivers improved performance just by switching manufacturers. If your not going to support your race teams, then by all means pull out of racing! Who wants to buy a vehicle from a manufacturer who is used as track fill.
Arrington still supports dodge with that engine shop (why I have no idea, especially if tr4petty’s statements are true), and Keselowski is already running horrible in that #12 Penske
car. I dread for next season to start. Better fix it before you have no one loyal left.
November 30, 2009 @ 7:45 am
Hemi; Arrington’s Engine Shop (Joey’s) now builds Toyota engines as well as Dodges! I wouldn’t be surprised to see him switch completely to Toyota over the next few years because there’s nobody for him to build Dodge engines for! He used to supply the Nascar Dodge Truck teams such as Bobby Hamiltion and the Keselowskis. I believe he also built some engines for a limited number of Nationwide and Cup teams also. Since Dodge has almost nobody left in Nascar though, his main business is building Dodge engines for the public classic car enthusiasts and Toyota racing engines. This is really sad because Joey’s dad, Buddy Arrington, was probably the most loyal Mopar guy in racing history. For many years, even with no support from Chrysler, he raced Dodge Miradas and Chrysler Imperials in the Cup series. He was the only Mopar in the field! He finally gave it up in the ’80s after he realized that NO support was ever going to come from Ma Mopar! Richard Petty and Kasey Kahne were probably the only two guys left in Nascar with a desire to run Mopars and now Dodge has left them high and dry also. It’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen.
November 30, 2009 @ 12:31 pm
I didn’t know he built Toyota engines as well. Sad.
This company is becoming harder and harder to justify standing up for.
Being “MOPAR” is hard.
November 30, 2009 @ 8:19 pm
I am surprised that anybody buys a Dodge anymore. Your styling department is awful. The only car that has puffed out round curves is the Viper and it is $100 grand. The flat sides on the Charger and even somewhat on the Challenger don’t help it. The Camaro puffs out and looks good. The front end and taillights look terrible on the Camaro, however the shape is good and that is why they are selling like hotcakes and they are reasonably priced. Your styling department goes from super rounded edges like on the Concorde to boxy looking vehicles. There doesn’t have to be this radical departure. I was going to trade in my 04 Ram, however, when I parked it at the dealer a few other shoppers looked at mine and thought it was for sale and wanted to buy it instead of a new one. They said it looked fuller and more solid and that the new ones looked like they had been sideswiped. I think it is common sense that you can look at vehicle and see if it looks good or not. I am a die hard Mopar fan, but you are really testing me and not offering the Challenger in sublime has been the biggest disappointment ever. I wanted to purchase a vehicle for my wife for Christmas and she told me that she would rather drive her old Chrysler Voyager because none of the new Chrysler or Dodge vehicles look as good. Please stop making boxes!
December 1, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
I guess to each man his own opinion. I like the flat sides on the Charger, thats why I bought it.
I think it makes the car look bigger and makes the roof line look lower. Love the back quarters. The only thing I hate is that the sheet metal is the thinnest I’ve ever seen on a car and so is the paint. If you buy one you’d better like popping dents and doing paint chip touch ups. What gives? The new van is boxy looking. This is usually a GM trait, but I guess Chrysler has caught that disease too. Look at the new GM trucks, if they don’t look like a box, then I don’t know what does. The new Ford F-150 is in box mode also. I think the new RAM is the winner for styling in the “box” wars.
The new camaro is such a hit because you can get a 300hp V-6 model thats actually affordable. It would take more than that for me to buy one however, I would never be able to live with the back, front, interior (Yuckkkkkk!!!! can you say Fiero?) and those side mirrors.
They are now announcing a convertable for 2011, something Challenger owners will never see. I’ll never understand what the big deal is with the colors. I’d never buy a car unless I could get the color I wanted. Geez, if someone is willing to pay extra for a color, then give it to them.
Don’t make it so difficult.
December 1, 2009 @ 6:32 pm
Yes, HEMIhead as far as sedans go that are available today, the Charger, especially the SRT8 with the hood scoop look good. I wish the taillights could look more like a 1969 or 1970. It is just cars in general don’t have that look like they are alive and beautifully sculpted like they were in the late 60s early 70s. Maybe there is just too much plastic on them where they just look like large scale plastic play toys. The touches of chrome trim accents made them look good. And as you say, even though the Ram is boxy it still looks much better than the ultimate box – Ford F150. The Chevy pick up puffs out but the wheel well openings are much too big. I think Dodge should make the Rambox standard on all of their pickups and that would clinch the deal for most people. That would be cheaper than giving $10,000 rebates on them like they do at our dealership. I must say though, the boxy look is appropriate for the Jeeps. They are supposed to have that unrefined, crisp, rugged look. Anyhow, I have seen the new Mopar option for the Challenger and I think they should just scrap that idea. Instead, they need to paint that T/A hood flat black and slap the T/A stripes down the side of the car. Put a flat black SRT trunk ducktail spoiler and some chrome side exhaust pipes on it and that would be awesome. Those wannabe AAR ‘cuda strobe stripes are worse than the original ones in 1970. There needs to be someone in the styling department that has some taste and understands proportion. People will pay $38-40 grand for a T/A sublime Challenger. Just keep making limited edition specialty cars and they will sell. People like having a unique car that nobody else has. That is why these custom shops, i.e., Unique Autosports make so much money.
December 1, 2009 @ 7:53 pm
TRUE that! coolman. What I hate is that I’ll be dead before they get the design right.
December 1, 2009 @ 8:12 pm
By the way, everyone loves Kasey Kane and he loves Dodge so Dodge needs to make him an offer he can’t refuse!
December 1, 2009 @ 9:01 pm
Yes, get Kahne now! At least get him over to Penske for 2010, he pulled out of a Ford contract before and he can do it again. He is a true DODGE guy. Probably the last one. Evernham is trying to get back to the track again, so another senario would be to reunite him with Kahne
and pick up another driver and start `TEAM DODGE`.
Let`s do it!
December 1, 2009 @ 9:15 pm
Kasey Kahne is good for Dodge just like Dale, Jr. is for Chevy. Even if he doesn’t win, everyone loves him. He sells a lot of products so Dodge will definitely get their money back from him. Kahne attracts the youth market and that is what Dodge needs to bring loyal customers back to them which will buy vehicles for years to come.
December 2, 2009 @ 12:12 am
Kahne’s the reason why I bought a charger r/t daytona. I also paid $200 for a bud/dodge #9 jacket that I can’t wear anymore. Bought it about a month before “the annoucement” for the manufacturer support change. Geez! Talk about spitting fire!
So if Dodge thinks they can’t make money from their nascar effort, then read what I stated above!
December 2, 2009 @ 10:32 am
I absolutely, totally, fervently, agree with the posters above about Kasey Kahne! C’mon DODGE, do something here!!! Kasey is extremely popular and one of the only drivers left in Nascar that truly seems to like Dodge and Mopar. Get this guy back into the DODGE camp by whatever means it takes!!! Why don’t some of you Dodge Management guys get out of the office and go to a Nascar race? If you did, you’d see crowds that you’ll not see anywhere else in any sports venue. You’ll see tailgating brought to a new level. You’ll see campgrounds everywhere full of campers with flags and banners touting their favorite drivers and/or favorite manufacturers. I’ve been pleasantly surprised since 2001 at the number of Dodge Motorsports shirts, jackets, banners etc. which seems to increase every year! In 2001, they were almost non-existent. But by 2005, the red & white jackets, shirts with Rams on them were popular! If Dodge Motorsports abandons these people (most of them young), you may never get them back! And Kasey Kahne is by FAR the most popular guy among the Dodge drivers. Kurt Busch doesn’t even come close to having the fan following of Kahne!
C’mon DODGE, do the right thing for once and establish some loyalty in the Nascar garage! Roush has it with Ford, Childress and Hendrick have it with Chevy, Dale Jr. is loyal to Chevy. Richard Petty could have been a loyal Dodge guy but you left him high and dry! So now the “King” of Nascar is going to Ford!?!?!?!?!? AT LEAST, DODGE, keep Kasey Kahne loyal to Dodge by making him an offer he can’t refuse. It would be worth whatever it cost to buy him out of his contract at RPM! He has a huge following and he WANTS to stay in a Dodge!
December 2, 2009 @ 10:32 am
To emphasize what tr4petty is saying, I’ll tell you a true story.
My wife and I recently had the opportunity to go to Montreal, Canada to see the Nascar Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villinuve in August. The Friday nite of that weekend, Ford racing had a street closed for a Fri/Sat nite street party downtown. My wife and I decided to attend and check it out. There was a huge party happening there with a live band, nascar car displays, free sponsor goods, beer tents, concessions, the works. There was some representation by chevy, and toyota also. I never saw one thing there from Dodge, except if you count the “bud on tap” tent. The point of this story is what really blew me away was all those red bud/dodge jackets! Everybody it seemed had them on! It was wild. I got so excited I rushed to the goods stand to buy one (@ $165 each), my wife wanted one also. They never had a thing left! Just a pile ‘ol Jr. jackets. Had to wait and buy one on raceday at the gate. And he wasen’t even in that race. So the guy has a huge fan base that’s for sure. This guy will sell your cars. I bought one that I couldn’t really afford. So there’s proof. Get him back now!
December 2, 2009 @ 11:09 am
Amen, HEMIhead!!!!! I just hope that Dodge management people actually monitor this site and take the advice given to heart! I have my doubts though.
December 3, 2009 @ 7:18 pm
tr4petty, Somebody seems to be replying to some posts on this site as “RLD” (Red Letter Dodge). Who that is I have no idea? I hope all this stuff is getting back to management though. If they are not listening then I don`t see the point of this site. I`ve never worked for Chrysler or ever drawn a penny from them for anything. So, I don`t have to be on here. I could just go out and buy brand X. Why am I here you may ask? Because I was facinated with Chrysler ever since I was about 8 years old. They always had the best engineering, style, and excitement out there, and it stuck.
If people are willing to take their valuable time to post on here and try to tell this company what the consumer sees looking from the outside, then I would take the “free” advice or observations and use it.
December 3, 2009 @ 8:09 pm
tr4petty and HEMIhead,
We are, in fact, listening, and do appreciate your comments and constructive criticism, as well as your support of Dodge. Your comments definitely do not fall on deaf ears.
December 3, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
We’ll see if you’re really listening by watching and waiting for any good news on the Kasey Kahne/ Nascar scene. Because if you actually do some research, you’ll see that we’re right and you’ll start talking to Kasey Kahne about getting him out of his last year with RPM and Ford and get him back into a Dodge OR you could step up and do the right thing by the “King” Richard Petty, who has given Dodge and Plymouth more successes in Nascar than all other drivers combined, and get RPM back into the Dodge camp! From what I understand, they still haven’t finalized their merge with Yates and Ford yet.
December 4, 2009 @ 10:35 am
Its sad, whats happening to the”King”. I wish he would cut all ties with Gillett and move on to
another role with DODGE. I’d wish DODGE had him on TV in their commercials. That would be awesome. I was looking at a 2006 Charger brochure, and it had the “king” in the centerfold
from ‘73 with his helmet and kneeling down in front of a new 2006 charger daytona, while his old ‘73 racecar is shown on the track above it. It is an awesome picture. Thats the type of advertising someone got right.
Get Kahne back to the DODGE camp please! Thanks for reading our posts.
December 4, 2009 @ 2:46 pm
Amen again, Hemihead!!!!!!! Dodge can’t even begin to repay Richard Petty for all the good he’s done for them as a Nascar Icon and an ambassador for Mopar products! You’d think Dodge could have figured some way to keep the “King” running Dodges on the racetrack! And Kasey Kahne has expressed his affinity for the Dodge brand many times so you’d also think that Dodge could offer him something to keep him running one in Nascar too. Dodge REALLY needs to start nurturing some brand loyalty in the Nascar garage among drivers and owners. The brand needs it badly!!! They’re not going to get that loyalty with Penske; he’s too heavily involved with brand Xs in open wheel, his many dealerships, etc. They could have it with Richard Petty!!! Dodge just has to step up to the plate and make it happen before they lose all their Nascar fan base!
December 5, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
tr4petty is 100% correct. Dodge has to step up one way or another. NASCAR is great publicity and you really don’t have a choice. Petty and Kahne are icons and they sell products, especially Dodge.
December 5, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
I don’t know what’s going on at Chrysler, but I think all the “old” guys are all gone, and nobody
remembers who “The King” is or what the company’s history is all about. Maybe there are too many new people there now. I think they all should take a “Field Trip” to the Walter P. Chrysler Museum, and take a look at some of the history and machines on display there. That would motivate anybody. As for “Building the Legend of Dodge,” forget it Mr. Gilles, it’s already been built. Now all you have to do is be true to the Legend , and don’t destroy it. Daimler almost did.
Due to their “HUGE” egos.
December 6, 2009 @ 11:01 am
The price of used dodge truck is decided by its rarity and popularity at the time when the truck was in market. Rare trucks are sold at higher prices. There is also a great demand for used dodge trucks in market.
December 13, 2009 @ 10:28 pm