Spring will soon make its long-awaited return, bringing with it birds in song, flowers in bloom—and Mopar Performance HEMI®-powered 1968 Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Darts in full-throated roar as they compete in pitched battle in the 2008 Mopar® HEMI Challenge Race Series.

The 2008 HEMI Challenge racing series resumes on Saturday, March 29 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Vegas HEMI Challenge stop, held in conjunction with the über-popular Mopars at The Strip event, is the fourth of eight legs in the 2008 HEMI Challenge points race (three 2008 HEMI Challenge points events were contested in late 2007).

Spring will soon make its long-awaited return, bringing with it birds in song, flowers in bloom—and Mopar Performance HEMI®-powered 1968 Plymouth Barracudas and Dodge Darts in full-throated roar as they compete in pitched battle in the 2008 Mopar® HEMI Challenge Race Series.

The 2008 HEMI Challenge racing series resumes on Saturday, March 29 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The Vegas HEMI Challenge stop, held in conjunction with the über-popular Mopars at The Strip event, is the fourth of eight legs in the 2008 HEMI Challenge points race (three 2008 HEMI Challenge points events were contested in late 2007).

An impressive company of Super Stock/A-HEMI (SS/AH) pilots are scheduled to make the trek out West, where they’ll shake off the long winter’s rust as they resume the chase for the 2008 HEMI Challenge championship. Charlie Westcott Jr., driver of the “Warfish” 1968 Plymouth Barracuda, holds the top spot in the standings heading in to Vegas, with Larry Woo in second and Westcott Jr.’s father, Charlie Westcott Sr., in third.

“The 2008 HEMI Challenge points battle is shaping up to be yet another nail biter,” said Jon Clark, Mopar Performance’s Department Manager, Chrysler LLC. “Three different drivers captured wins in the first three 2008 points events [Westcott Sr., Michael Ogburn and Westcott Jr.]. Such parity illustrates the amazing dedication of the grassroots racers that compete on the series. All the ingenuity emerges from each individual racer’s garage, not from a lab someplace. They buy parts from a Dodge, Chrysler or Jeep dealership and use them to go fast in Mopar HEMI Challenge events. We’ve decided to turn up the wick this year, making it an all-year points race.”

Following the Mopars at The Strip event the Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series, entering its eighth year, will head to the JEG’s Cajun SPORTSnationals in Belle Rose, La., on Apr. 4–6; the 54th Annual NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Ind., on Aug. 27–Sept. 1; the JEG’s Northern SPORTSnationals in Columbus, Ohio on Sept. 19–21; and the NHRA Northeast Dutch Classic in Reading, Pa., on Oct. 23–26.

The 2008 HEMI Challenge champion will be crowned in October at the NHRA Northeast Dutch Classic. In years past, the HEMI Challenge champion was crowned over Labor Day weekend at the NHRA Mac Tools U.S. Nationals event. The U.S. Nationals HEMI Challenge victor will still bank a $10,000 bonus as in previous years, with the overall series champ hauling in a $5,000 payday. The change in format will position the 2009 Mopar HEMI Challenge Race Series to be the first “pure” year in the series’ history, with all 2009 points events taking place within the same calendar year.