The Team Mopar® Collins Motorsports
Trio Prepares to Take
SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge This Weekend

• After test sessions, the Team Mopar® Collins Motorsports team feels confident in the performance of the Mopar Dodge Ram Trophy Truck

Center Line, Mich. — Team Mopar® drivers Brian Collins, Chuck Hovey and Larry Ragland will take the cockpit of the Collins Motorsports Mopar Dodge Ram Trophy Truck to kickoff the 2008 SCORE Desert season at the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge scheduled for Jan. 24–27 in Laughlin, Nev.

The off-road trio finished an impressive fifth in its inaugural race under the Mopar banner at the 40th Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 in November 2007. Mopar’s entry in the Baja 1000 launched the brand’s new “Trail” initiative that was announced at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas in October 2007. Another component of Mopar’s “Trail” initiative is its new line of Jeep® Performance and Dodge Off-road performance products.

After test sessions, the Collins Motorsports team feels confident in the performance of the Mopar Dodge Ram Trophy Truck With nearly a two-month separation between the debut of the Mopar Dodge Ram Trophy Truck at the Baja 1000 and the start of the 2008 SCORE Desert season, the Collins Motorsports team took advantage of the break to put the Mopar Trophy Truck through its paces. The results have been overwhelmingly positive.

“We’ve been out working on our engine package, the Mopar R5 aluminum block that we’ve been running” said Robbie Goerke, team manager for Collins Motorsports. “We bumped our horsepower up and bumped our torque up, and we went out and put 250 miles on it a few weeks ago. The engine performed flawlessly. We had huge power and it just ran great. Goerke added, “With Mopar’s support in 2008, I think we’re going to be a hard team to beat, especially with Brian Collins, Larry Ragland and Chuck Hovey driving this truck. We’ve always run well before, and I think with this extra support it’s just going to make everything even better.”

Information about the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge The “Laughlin Leap” competition, set for Thursday, Jan. 24, features vehicles from all SCORE classes competing to determine which can jump the farthest. A pre-run and qualifying for the SCORE Laughlin Desert Challenge is set for Friday, Jan. 25, with two days of racing scheduled for Jan. 26–27. Each day of racing will feature eight laps of hard fought battles on the daunting six-mile course. For more info on the SCORE Desert Series, visit http://www.score-international.com

70 Years of Mopar When Chrysler bought Dodge in 1928, the need for a dedicated parts manufacturer, supplier and distribution system to support the growing enterprise led to the formation of the Chrysler Motor Parts Corporation (CMPC) in 1929.

Originally used in the 1920s, Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) was trademarked for a line of antifreeze products in 1937. It was also widely used as a moniker for the CMPC. The Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s – the muscle car era. The Chrysler Corporation built race-ready Dodge and Plymouth “package cars” equipped with special high-performance parts. Mopar carried a line of “Special Parts” for super stock drag racers and developed its racing parts division called Mopar Performance Parts to enhance speed and handling for both road and racing use.

Today, Chrysler LLC’s Global Service & Parts division is responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of nearly 250,000 authentic Mopar replacement parts, components and accessories for Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles sold around the world. To assure quality, reliability and durability, all Mopar parts and accessories are designed in strict adherence to Chrysler Engineering standards.