September 7, 2000
Dodge Motorsports has reached a significant milestone in its return to
Winston Cup racing with the announcement that NASCAR has approved the body
templates for its Dodge Winston Cup Intrepid R/T race car.
Dodge Motorsports initially presented a car to NASCAR for approval in early
August. Following the initial meeting, NASCAR conducted wind tunnel testing
in Georgia and on-track testing with Bill Elliott at the Atlanta Motor
Speedway.
NASCAR was satisfied with the initial designs and today granted permission
for the five Dodge teams to order the body templates.
Dodge began developing the racecar and engine last fall, beginning with the
Dodge Intrepid R/T passenger car body style and adapting the aerodynamics
and chassis to Winston Cup racing. Dodge first unveiled the Dodge Dealers
Intrepid R/T show car at the 2000 Detroit Auto Show, tested the car in the
wind tunnel in the Spring and conducted its first on-track testing at
Homestead-Miami Speedway on May 2.
"We are honored to have been part of the process of designing a new car for
NASCAR Winston Cup competition," said Ray Evernham, team owner and leader of
the development effort. "We have worked closely with NASCAR to develop a car
to meet their standards. We are proud of the development work we did on the
car. Hats off to the guys in Dodge engineering and in the race shops at Bill
Davis Racing and Petty Enterprises for a job well done. It would never have
been possible without them and the one team approach."
Dodge is approaching the development of the Intrepid R/T race car in much
the same way it designs and builds passenger cars and trucks -- using a
platform team that combines many different disciplines and skills in a
collaborative effort.
"The development, review and approval process went very smoothly,
especially in light of all we had to accomplish in less than 500 days," said
Tim Culbertson, Dodge NASCAR Winston Cup Program Manager.
Dodge will now turn its focus to preparing the engine for presentation to
NASCAR in the Fall.
"We're running engine tests in the race shop and working getting our new
engine ready to present," said Evernham. "We have run the engine in several
500-mile tests and it has performed very well. We will continue to test the
engine for durability and speed over long distances. We got a lot of work
ahead of us, but we're making good progress."
Dodge will make its debut in NASCAR Winston Cup racing at the 2001 Daytona
500 with five teams and 10 race cars. The teams include Evernham
Motorsports, with Bill Elliott and Casey Atwood; Bill Davis Racing with Ward
Burton and Dave Blaney; Petty Enterprises and Kyle Petty and John Andretti;
Melling Racing with Stacy Compton; and Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix
Sabates.
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Steve St.Laurent
2000 Dakota 4.7L, CC, Soon to be Supercharged
1999 Chebby
1993 Suzuki Tracker (Geo) 1.6L
2003 Aspiring for a V-10 GTS-R
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