| INDY 2008 - ELEPHANTS ON PARADE | ||||
|
|
The Mopar Hemi Challenge Is The Highlight of Indy’s Friday Action 
Children, pay attention. There will be a test! How many of you can identify the ElephantusGigantusMoparus? This, class, is one of the finest examples still haunting the wilds, and is something that we must protect from extinction. (All photos by Jon Asher)
Charlie Westcott, Jr. simply overpowered Bucky Hess in the finale, running almost two tenths of a second quicker and four miles an hour faster.
It’s a jungle out there. Thundering through the twilight hours are Elephants, tromping and stomping everything in their way as they move from one end of a clearing in the trees, a clearing known as O’Reilly Raceway Park, to the other.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor's website
Mark Viera came all the way from Turlock, Calif. only to bulb against Jim Pancake in the second round.
Sadly, while the animals roamed the earth the Denizens of Dearborn had to satisfy their emotional needs with engines 
“The Man” in the Mopar Hemi Challenge is David Hakim (center), and while he’s responsible for the show, it’s legends like Dick Oldfield (left) and “Akron” Arlen Vanke who, eons ago, made it all happen.
Back in the day – and how many of you out there are old enough to have seen these wondrous machines racing when they were factory-fresh? – the sight of the likes of Sox & Martin, “Dandy” Dick Landy and so many others brought chills to the hearts of their competitors and joy to the faces of their legions of fans. The Mopar Hemi Challenge keeps that spirit alive, as the fastest legal Super Stock cars in the land do battle for a largely meaningless $10,000 winner’s purse – but a trophy that’s emblematic of their superiority over their peers – at least on this day, at this track, in this, the most prestigious and important race on the NHRA POWERade Series tour. 
Bucky Hess qualified 7th with an 8.776 which, while competitive, was an
early indication that he’d be no match for Charlie Westcott, Jr. if
they both reached the finale, and that’s how things worked out.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor's website
Chuck Comella’s visually stunning Dart fouled out in the second stanza against Jim Daniels, but man, can that car climb!
They didn’t award a Best Appearing Car trophy in the Challenge, but if
they had, the “Silver Bullet” driven by Don Bales would have had a heck
of a chance at it. That’s this car’s engine in our lead shot.
We’re not for a second suggesting that these car owners don’t care about money, but let’s be realistic here: If you can afford a Hemi Cuda or Dart you’re not likely to care if the winner’s purse is ten dollars or ten thousand. This is about winning, and nothing else. Charlie Westcott, Jr. and his dad do care about the money – but they care more about winning. The flanks of their cammo-painted, Jesel Performance-backed ‘Cuda sport a series of Hemi Challenge stickers, with most of them carrying hand-lettered signage reading “winner” in place of “participant.” They have dominated the Challenge for seemingly forever, and this year’s go was no different. From Junior’s 8.631 qualifying effort to his father’s second place 8.684, they were the class of the field – and next year they’re probably going to be even quicker, because they’re going to discard their automatic transmission in favor of a 4-speed. Why? Because as the senior Westcott put it, he can adjust a clutch a few moments, but changing a torque converter takes considerably longer and a lot more physical effort. 
Yes, the ground definitely started shaking when Bob Wolkwitz’s ‘Cuda
returned to earth. In fact, it’s been suggested that California’s
recent tremors may have been kicked off by this car’s wheelstands – all
the way from the East Coast!
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor's website 
Jim Daniels drove engine builder Ray Barton’s Dart to an impressive quarter final round finish.
Yes, the Westcott’s are all about being the baddest Mopar racers in the land, and to date few have been able to challenge 
Charlie Westcott’s car is already adorned with Hemi Challenge “winner”
stickers, and now he’s got one more to add to the collection.
Twenty-eight cars answered the call for the first round, and while qualifying netted times descending from Westcott, Jr.’s sixty-three-one to Steve Kent’s much slower nine-eleven-eight, virtually every competitor knew before the racing even started that it would take a miracle to keep Westcott’s Elephant out of the tall grass, yet on they came. The shame of it was that far too many fans were still on their way to Indy, or stuck at their nine-to-fivers, when eliminations began. If only the NHRA could find a way to shoehorn this great racing into Saturday’s show when a much bigger crowd would be on hand to witness it. But no matter. The hard core – the truly hard core – were scattered throughout the stands, often on their feet, as these amazing machines clawed their way skyward and down track. Watching over it all was Mopar’s David Hakim, who continues to engineer a program his bosses are starting to understand and appreciate. For them it’s all about selling ’08 units, when in truth an event like the Mopar Hemi Challenge can do just that by showcasing the heritage of today’s showroom vehicles. And they do have that new Challenger on the way… a d v e r t i s e m e n t
Click to visit our sponsor's website
Like son, like father? Charlie Westcott, Sr.’s car is just a tick
slower than his son’s – which is very bad news for Hemi Challenge
hopefuls. Very bad news, indeed!
Winning is exactly what that Westbrook kid did, too. There’s little point in giving you a round-by-round synopsis of eliminations, but one thing we can say with authority: There were far too many redlights, but at the same time they were understandable redlights, if that makes any sense. When you know the Elephant in the other lane has a longer trunk than you do, you’re going to take chances, and taking chances often means redlights. There were almost a dozen of ‘em in all, some of them double redlights and even a couple on singles. The pressure was great, and a lot of guys just couldn’t help themselves. They knew they needed killer lights to win, and some of ‘em were just too quick for their own good. Bucky Hess earned the “honor” of being Westcott, Jr’s final victim, falling with an 8.864/148.80 to Westcott’s so-much-better 8.650/152.93. Hess gave it his all, chopping down the Tree with a 0.013 Reaction Time while Westcott played it safe with a 0.039. He didn’t need to cut a light. He had the car to get the job done, and that’s all that mattered. One of the great things about the Mopar Hemi Challenge is that none of the competitors seem even remotely concerned by Westcott’s performance advantage. They’re just ever-more determined to overcome it, which means that next year’s Challenge will be even better. If you have an appreciation for drag racing history, this is a race you just have to see. This is no nostalgia gathering of older cars, some of which run, and some that don’t. This is about historical cars that are absolutely and positively all about racing, and racing hard. When the Elephants start trumpeting on Friday of next Labor Day weekend, you gotta be here for it. Forget that “we’ll-get-there-by-the-pro-session-in-the-evening” stuff. Just tell your boss that you’ve gotta leave early ‘cause you’ve heard there’s going to be an Elephant stampede in Indianapolis, and you have to see it!
|
