When Dodge decided to go to NASCAR they axed the tremendously successful Viper/Oreca road racing program.
Viper was dominant at that time. We won one championship after another. At the Daytona race, Viper not only beat all the other GTS competitors, but beat all the modified entrants too!.
The road racing program showed the world what Vipers were capable of. We began to sell Vipers all over Europe through Chrysler.
These were glory days indeed. The trophy cases began to fill up, ViperDays was hugely successful, Michelin partnered with Viper, the Compe Coupes ruled the local tracks, and the ACR-X Vipers were yet to be released.
Then it all came tumbling down. Oreca went away, the Compe Coupe ceased development, but the seed was sown, and the very successful run of ACR's and ACR-X's sold out even though the most expensive versions of all being sold to the faithful.
Dodge never became successful at NASCAR. Even Toyota cleaned their clock with their Camry (CAMRY!). They are running deal last, even their world renown driving team has deserted them for more successful manufacturers.
Dodge Viper production went dark. The factory borded up and left to rot. The Viper legend was put up for sale, and the vision was lost. The light went out...only a faint glimmer was kept alive by the very active and enthusiastic Viper Club of America, and a few who struggled behind the scenes and under the blankets.
Dodge began to make plans to race their 4 door charger. While it is a pretty nice car, the Challenger is the two door that traditionally goes to NASCAR. Guess it was still a better choice than to race MiniVans.
Now the glimmer has re-ignited. The Viper has been given more life. The pure heart of the Viper is once again being readied for battle on the tracks of the world. Backed up by a street edition, with the well proven design of craming a huge, powerful naturally aspirated engine into a lightweight chassis, engine hooked directly to the rear end with a standard edition 6 speed manual shifter, swadled with leather, and deep multi step paint the latest generation Viper has generated more calls to dealerships than ever before. The SRT team will channel some of the street Viper's financial success back into a racing effort.
From what I have gathered, the new factory effort to campaign Vipers in prestigeous world racing venues is being gone after with great gusto, preparation, and dedication. A great team of drivers has been recruited, and they have already entered their first American LeMans race. They are going to spend the rest of the year in development, and should be able to give the very well developed and sorted out Corvette race team a run for their money in 2013.
I look forward to the return of world racing drivers stars "Corey Vettsucks" and perhaps even the underrated "Porsche Blows" back to the roadracing circuits.
The ViperNation needs our Heros, and they are not to be found on the ovals of NASCAR.
