The Sound and the Fury: Viper Cup Invades Pocono |
 
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Posted on September 14, 2010
Before you see the grand, welcoming arches of the Pocono International Raceway, you hear it. It reminds you vaguely of a swarm of bees, but as you get closer the noise swells from a buzz to a roar. Once you’re inside and safely through the precariously small infield tunnel, you can see the source of the commotion. 10 track-spec Viper ACR-Xs, orbiting the infield like so many shooting stars streaking across an inky black sky. The silence of the cool Pennsylvania morning is pierced by the thunderclap of 6,400 stampeding horses. This is the Dodge Viper Cup.
Day 1 of the series dawned crisp, cool, and sunny – the perfect weather for a nice, clean run. Clear skies and ambient temperatures proved to be an effective snake charmer, and there were at least as many street-spec Vipers in the spectators lot as there were in the paddock. This phenomenon did not go unnoticed by New England Viper Club president Richard Desrosiers, who grinned as he wryly explained the mystique of the garage queen. Not content to keep his toy locked away, Rich boasted that he could tell you where every nick, ding, and chip on his “Yelloh” 2005 Dodge Viper SRT10 came from, and he’s damn proud of it.
Regardless of their relationship with Mother Nature, however, every racer from the owners to our guest drivers, pro-skateboarder Bucky Lasek and NHRA Pro Stock veteran Allen Johnson had one thing in common: a healthy appreciation for superior engineering. When an ACR-X came screaming by, conversations were briefly halted and heads immediately swiveled towards the track. Some would let out a cheer, while others would just smile quietly like a proud parent on Graduation Day. After a full 7 hours of watching these beautiful creatures dance around the tarmac, it was almost disappointing how quickly the actual race was finished. Less than an hour after the green flag dropped, the checkered flag was already waiving and #90 Keith Verges was claiming first place. Moments later, second and third places were snapped up by #33 Ben Keating and #67 Ryan Schmisk, respectively. After Verges’ cool-down lap, he punctuated his win with an impressive burnout that filled us with somewhat ill-advised ideas for the drive home.
In stark contrast to Saturday, Day 2 broke cold and rainy. The overcast skies did nothing to dampen spirits though, and despite the slight drizzle and the chilly temps the drivers were back in full force. Neither performance nor morale seemed affected by the slick track, and the only reminder of the less-than-perfect conditions were the racing officials vying for position as the next Gordon’s fisherman. Sunday’s race was earlier than the first, which meant less time to practice and less time to sit silently, basking in the sound of pure awesome. The green dropped at 1:30pm and by 2:15pm Ben Keating was storming the finish line, followed closely by yesterday’s champ Keith Verges and guest driver, #53 Bucky Lasek. In keeping with tradition, Keating executed a celebratory burnout that we managed to photograph even more obsessively than Verges’ the day before. When the top 3 finishers took to the winner’s circle, there was nothing to be heard save for a chorus of friendly congratulations and the uncorking of champagne bottles.
Nothing could possibly replace the adrenaline rush of witnessing all of this firsthand, but you’re more than welcome to try. We captured enough footage this weekend to let you at least attempt to live vicariously through us, and you can start with the official Dodge Viper Facebook page. The rest of the exclusive coverage we’ll be rolling out throughout the course of this week, so be sure to keep your eyes (and your browsers) trained on RedLetterDodge. In the meantime, head on over to Viper Headquarters to read up on driver stats, bios, and more, and don’t forget to clear your schedule for the next double-header October 2nd & 3rd at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. We hope to see you there – you’re running out of excuses.
Sep 17, 2010 @ 16:25:28
I see they are going to make a new 2011 Viper and it looks pretty wild. Speaking of new cars, I finally figured out why the Avenger, Sebring, Caliber, and Journey look funny. The back door is part of the wheel well. All the Japenese and Korean cars do not do this with their cars. They slope the back angle of the door edge a couple inches away from the wheel well and it makes the cars look racy. Chrysler/Dodge has got to change this when they revise theses cars. Even my wife and kids pointed that out to me as to why the cars looked funny. It ruins the lines of the car and hopefully the Fiat boys who are known for their artistic flair will NOT allow the Dodge/Chrysler designers to do this any more.
Sep 19, 2010 @ 10:33:27
What’s up with all the Viper Cup coverage. I belong to two different Mopar clubs and nobody ever talks about Viper Cup racing. Who wants to watch Vipers racing against other Vipers? I keep seeing these stories on this site about Viper Cup and wonder who cares and who watches these races. What are the crowds like at these races? Anything near the 300,000 fans at the Brickyard 400? How about the 160,000 at the 1/2 mile Bristol track? I didn’t think so. Where’s your Nascar coverage?
Sep 19, 2010 @ 16:33:18
I want to know what going on with “The King”? Why does he seem to be pledging allegiance
with Dodge, issuing Petty Garage Challengers, and Petty Blue Challenger 1:18 scale cars from
nascar store, to commemorate the release of his DVD, “Petty Blue”. Is Dodge paying attention to this? Why did we lose “The King” anyways? How could Dodge let him walk away?
I think this was a bad decision on Dodge’s part. BTW, Petty’s new history video features a grand
prix on the cover. Will I be buying that? NOT!
Viper racing is fine, but I don’t know anybody who follows it. You need to be focusing more on
Nascar. More bang for the buck.
Sep 19, 2010 @ 21:15:04
Yes, I must echo HEMIhead’s comments on “The King”…he is what brought Plymouth/Dodge/Chrysler to the forefront of racing and improved their image and sales. Then Dodge throws him away like he is expendable garbage. Kasey Kahne was another big name that was thrown to the wolves. This is careless and reckless behavior and it will alienate a lot of your loyal fans. I know Brad Kesolowski is doing well in the Nationwide series and Kurt Busch has a chance in the Sprint Cup Series, but sometimes you have to help those who made you famous. Hopefully, when the new updates for the car models come to the showrooms this year and sales increase drammatically, mother Mopar will have enough money to lure Petty and Kahne back to Dodge.
Sep 19, 2010 @ 23:08:08
Totally agree with Hemi and Sub. The King should still be in the Dodge camp! I’ve noticed a big decline in the number of people wearing Dodge driver or Dodge Motorsports swag at the races this year. Most of that decline is directly attributable to Dodge’s dropping RPM from it’s supported race team ranks. The loss of “The King” and Kasey Kahne, one of the most popular drivers out there, is costing Dodge big time!
Sep 20, 2010 @ 05:55:40
I thought for sure Penske would sign Kahne when he was in a position to deal. What a power team that would be, Busch, Keselowski, and Kahne. I also Dodge wouldn’t let him go, but after letting “The King” go, I knew it wasen’t a good sign.
They can’t even find a sponsor now for Hornish. You know, if you are only going to have 3 cars in cup racing, than at least make it the best three you can get. In my opinion, Kahne would have rounded out a nice team there.
You guys are going to have top focus more on Nascar for us fans and consumers.
Definately more coverage needed here. Sublime and tr4petty have the right idea.
Sep 20, 2010 @ 09:29:41
Yeah Hemi, the folks at Dodge obviously aren’t in touch with the majority of their Motorsports fans. Nobody I know, and I know a lot of Mopar guys, care anything at all about Viper Cup racing. It doesn’t prove anything for a manufacturer to race it’s cars against themselves; nothing at all, and it isn’t interesting to the vast majority of their motorsports fans.
This site is a good example of how out of touch they are. The Chase for the Cup has begun. They have one driver in it. They had a driver win the pole for the first Chase race. And yet, there’s 3 stories on this site covering the Viper Cup series (which none of us care about) and NONE about the Cup Chase!!! How clueless can these guys be!
Sep 20, 2010 @ 09:41:06
tr4petty, the Vipers are starting to pile up at the dealers so they need to push them. We still have two 2009 models sitting at our dealership. They are just too expensive. When they were $70,000 they seemed reasonable but now they are over $100,000 and a Vette is now pushing the same horsepower ratings. They need to just slap the Viper motor into the Challenger and sell it for a reasonable $50,000 and be done with it. They put the motors in trucks, why can’t they put them in Challengers?
Sep 20, 2010 @ 09:43:14
Take a look at the picture above of the Viper Cup race at Pocono. Notice anything? The stands are EMPTY! Now compare that to a picture of the stands at Pocono when the Nascar race is going on. C’mon Dodge, stop wasting time on this silly Viper vs Viper racing and start covering Nascar!
Don’t get me wrong; the Viper is a great car; I’d love to have one. BUT the fact is, very few of us can afford a Viper as evidenced by the fact that only 2-300 per year are sold. So, Dodge, please stop catering to the elite, and start paying attention to the blue-collar majority that buys almost all of your vehicles. Start covering Nascar! AND, if you must race Vipers, please be man enough to race them against the competition, instead of other Vipers only! At least that would be mildly interesting but still not as exciting as Nascar!
Sep 20, 2010 @ 09:58:15
tr4petty -
We echo your sentiments regarding the value of the honest, American, blue-collar worker – which is exactly why the Viper Cup was created. There are no faceless million-dollar sponsorships here, these owners are salt-of-the-earth, good people that happen to share our love for the mighty Viper. This series is also limited strictly to the track-spec ACR-X, which as you know is not legal for on-road use. We thought it hardly seemed fair to build such an amazing speed demon without giving owners the opportunity to really turn it loose, hence the creation of the series.
If you’d like to come check it out first hand, the next races are October 2nd & 3rd at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. We’d love to see you there!
Sep 20, 2010 @ 10:43:15
RLD What? There’s not many blue collar workers buying vipers. We’re at Nascar. We are the people with the families showing up at your dealerships looking for a minivan. I think you got this mixed up. I guess we won’t see you there? You’ve got to be kidding us on this.
Sep 20, 2010 @ 11:32:11
Who is going to be there unless you are Mormon or have a lot of money to travel to Utah. The Mormons must be squirreling away a lot of money. Just kidding guys…don’t get too upset. A Challenger Cup would generate more interest, heck let the Chargers and Magnums race as well. They should do these like those Grand Am races where there are different classes of cars racing all at the same time. Then everybody would be happy not just the elite rich who can afford a Viper.
Sep 21, 2010 @ 01:21:46
RLD, no thanks. Not even mildly interested. I will be at the Cup race in Martinsville though! Now there’s some REAL racing!
I can’t believe you said that you created the Viper Cup for the honest, American, blue-collar worker! LOL Yeah, almost every American blue-collar worker has a Viper ACR-X in their garage. NOT!
Listen RLD; the Viper is a nice car but it’s a status symbol; a showroom attraction. It helps to get customers into showrooms where they might at least buy something else, like a Charger or Challenger, but Viper Cup race reporting is a waste of space on your site.
Now, how about Nascar coverage? And how about, next year, take the money that you’re wasting on the Viper Cup series and put it toward supporting another Nascar team. That’s where you’ll see a return on your investment!
Sep 27, 2010 @ 07:45:39
I think the Viper Cup is awesome !!! Remember they have Porsche cup ect…
At least you know a Dodge is going to win , just kidding … to hear these beasts run is truly awesome !!
Yes,they are out of reach for alot of people ! But many people can still buy a Viper, you can pick up low mile used ones for a price of a loaded new minivan ! Then watch these Viper cup races with pride..
Actually,Viper cup is more affordable for people,you do not need multi-million dollar sponsors..just have enough money for a Viper,and go racing !! I think I could afford a Viper ACR-X easier than a Nascar Challenger,plus if I could afford a Nascar,they wouldnt let me race it,no multi billion dollar sponsors,b.s ect..ect..ect….(I think this is kind of what RLD means)
Furthermore,I am a fan of more stock appearing cars,nascar has gone way beyond that,they all look the same besides the front end..Chev/Ford/Toyo/Dodge,yep,I know you guys will slam me for saying this but if it were like the old days ,real looking cars,metal ect,I would be all over nascar..
Now ,have a series like the old Trans-Am racing and I would be all over that ! Real cars,The Super stock Challenger is the best new Mopar around…people see that stock/showroom looking body,wins on Sunday sells on Monday !
Sep 28, 2010 @ 08:39:33
From your video, at least the 8 people who showed up liked the burnout.