Hi Everyone,
I would like to thank all of you for your support over the past 20 years. Economic times can be ******* a small business and unfortunately we could not whether this storm. Our operation with 9 employees was just too big to make economic sense. Moving forward I do want to let all my customer’s know that I have made arrangements with several sister shops to take care of all their needs, I will oversee the work. My goal is a leaner operation in the future and possible involvement with SRT and it’s new franchises. Parts can still be had through modifiedviper.com and I will let you know where I make new roots real soon. Rest assured, if you need me I can help.
When I started with Dodge back in 1983 Dodge’s idea of a sports car was a 4 cylinder turbo car called the Laser. I wished for the old muscle car days and when I saw the Viper prototype at the Detroit auto show in 1989, I had to be part of that. I was one of the first Viper Technician’s in the US and had the opportunity to train with Pete Gladys and work with father Viper Roy Sjoberg. I was hooked right off the bat and since then I have lived everything Viper. I had some great experiences building and campaigning cars. In 1994 we had the first Viper to do a 10 second ¼ mile, our club had a 10 second club, then a 9 second club then a 8 second club. We built all those cars. Road racing is my passion and we won many championships with Drivers like Eric Messley and Sam Hubinette.
I had the great privilege of being the Crew Chief on the Formula “D” drift team for Mopar. I still do not know how we made a car that could slip and grip! One of my big favorites was the Silver State Challenge, flat out for 90 miles on public roads in Nevada. We kept building faster and faster cars until the unlimited class was all that was left.Then came the flying mile in Nevada at 6500 elevation. No one could break 200mph. We came with a twin supercharged NOS injected GTS with a power glide, overdrive and 2.73 gear. On the last pass of the day, in the thin air we went 202mph. Our latest fun has been running the ACR’s on the track against the best that Europe has to offer and there has been no Challenge. Our own Lyle Larson ran a Viper Drag pack Challenger at Mopar’s at the strip this weekend and posted some of the best times out there! It still is fun. With the Advent of the new SRT Viper it looks like there is more to come.
I cannot tell you how many great people I have met over the years working with the Viper. I want to thank Mark Jorgenson and Woodhouse for their years of support. Jon B for a constant supply of used parts and all the engineers at Chrysler for their constant help. Everyone in the Dodge Viper family has been just great. I hope to continue with all of you in the future.