The last hurrah for a Dodge Ram came courtesy of Paige Decker and Spencer Boyd at Spring Martinsville in 2016. A couple other guys attempted races but DNQd with Rams later in the year
That would definitely be true... but they need a good corps of drivers because "The People's Champion" Timmy Hill can't do all of the heavy lifting by himself, despite giving Larry Mac the greatest NXS observation ever.
@@toddthezondalover645 the reason sterling didn’t win the brickyard was because dodged just didn’t make the power of a hms Chevrolet engine and Gordon could gap him enough on restarts he couldn’t make the time up though
Hi previous marketing rep and designer for JGL Racing here. To add some info, Penske was actually helping these zombie teams by providing refreshes for their engines and chassis. They were super fragile but cheap and kept overhead. Hilariously high mileage engines. In 2014 we start and parked the 93 at Phoenix on only three cylinders. The only reason we changed to Toyota was the promise on them providing us KBM chassis and used jgr engines. All of our dodges went to Carl long
I love the ending. That poor Challenger on HMS '18 came to his final checkered flag very tired, last, way back and with a lot of bruises from his last race. *_But he finished, and for that last Dodge, that was all that mattered. It proved it was worthy of that final checkered flag._*
I remembered that there was also zombie Toyota Camrys in the Xfinity series from 2019-2020. Rick Ware Racing also ran a zombie mustang at the 2nd Martinsville Xfinity race with a 2021 mustang decals.
And keep in mind the only reason he ran Chrysler cars were because of the surplus of parts he got from other teams, and these parts allowed him to finish top 10 in points twice because of it
@@xavierjuno4572 all of Petty Enterprises parts bin ended up at Arrington. His son Joey got the last laugh as he was the chief Dodge engine builder when they reentered NASCAR.
I’m a dodge fanboy and still think a gen 5 ram would’ve been PERFECT in the truck series. Sad that dodge no longer in the sport but those zombie challengers kept fighting with the underdogs
And then you got what is now the Pintys series, a home for Dodges for many, many, many a year. Okay they are the lower end of the minor league system but still...if you are going to go with the minor leagues of NASCAR, Xfinity is AAA, Trucks are AA Pintys is Rookie League level, below even Arca, but man Pintys puts on good racing but it is such a shame NASCAR does not care about the local or regional series though if it doesn't earn them a ton of money but it still costs to go race. Those Pintys cars are sharp and put on great racing
A similar phenomenon existed after Pontiac withdrew from NASCAR at the conclusion of the 2003 season. The Pontiac Grand Prix body would continue to be utilized for a few points races in the Cup Series in 2004. One such race was Bristol in the spring of 2004. Texas would be the last points race a Pontiac would attempt in the Cup Series, failing to qualify for said race. A Pontiac would race in the non-poibts All-Star Open that year. You can guess how that turned out. In the Busch Series, as it was known then, Pontiacs would continue to run through 2005 by smaller teams, including Mike Harmon mentioned in the video. One team, Johnny Sauter's Curb Racing team, actually split the season between a Chevrolet and zombie Pontiac bodies in 2004. The last race a Pontiac ever ran in the Busch Series then was the September Richmond race in 2005, so that is subsequently the last race Pontiac ever ran in NASCAR. Pontiacs would disappear altogether come 2006, but there was a rule back then that said teams could run old bodies only for three years back then. This phenomenon also existed in the 90s when Buick and Oldsmobile also withdrew from NASCAR.
@@peterwilson9589 Also a mopar fan but my favorite Pontiac was Johnny bensons #10 eagle one car from 2003, never took it to victory lane but still a bad ass car
What do you mean 'dodge chassis'? Are you referring to pro late model? Because cup/nxs chassis don't fall into the chassis specs of late model stocks. Never seen anyone run the bodies from NSX in late models because they arent legal. They dont fit the templates. There is a pretty sharp looking Sportsman Challenger body by AR Bodies, which I've seen quite often. But Sportsman is not a Late Model.
It was kinda always funny but also interesting to see after Dodge left still having Challengers and Rams race in the Xfinity Series/Nationwide Series and Truck Series. I’d always use to look through the grid to see if anyone was running any Dodges. It was even cool to see when Alon Day ran the race at Mid-Ohio in 2016 and was able to challenge for the lead in the monsoon not only with a low budget team but in an old zombie Challenger. The same thing with after the Trucks went to their new body style in 2014 and the only tracks u could race the older body styles were I think at tracks under a mile and road courses and of course Eldora. I think the first year u could still run the old bodies at intermediates but it’d eventually be phased out. But I can’t remember the drivers but it was like 2016 at CTMP and somebody ran the old Ram body and just like Alon was in threat for the victory or top 5 finish. I think it was that same year too, but I remember someone at Martinsville running an old Ram body ended up getting a top 10 or top 15 finish after a yellow with I think 20 to go? Definitely a weird but interesting time in NASCAR’s lower ranks for Dodge NASCAR fans and non Dodge fans alike.
One crazy "zombie" car is the toyota camry. while still run in the cup series, For a good while after toyota swapped to the supra for xfinity, the Camry body lived on for a couple of years until an update came to the bodies. While not as long tenured or as well known. Watching 2 different bodies of toyota in the same frame for some xfinity races in 2019 and 2020 threw me for a loop
@Noskywyd, the NASCAR Canada Series still uses carbureted V-8 crate engines. As a result, they don't require the factory support that the Cup Series does. This is also why Pontiacs were still racing in this series all the way until the brand's demise.
Mike harmon still has/had 2 challengers in a corner of his shop last i saw anything on them. Dont know if theyve been sold off since or not. And somebody bought that last run challenger heard he got it street legal. And at least one of those gen 6 chargers is still around somebody on RU-vid here found it and saved it thank goodness.
Ford was in better financial shape as the only one of GM, Ford, and Chrysler not to need bailout. Most of Dodge's racing effort was from Daimler's money. Toyota passed Chrysler as the 3rd biggest manufacture in sales in 2006 then jumped into Cup in 2007.
I liked the Dodge bodies of the past when I started watching in 2018 ( and I still do ), so it surprised me when I saw an almost blank Challenger running Xfinity at Mid-Ohio that year.
Meantime the brand has almost returned three separate times to Cup. Andretti Autosport was signed with Kurt Busch for 2013 until Dodge pulled the pulled the plug.
I think it should be mentioned here that Dodge did still run factory support in the Canadian Pinty's series all the way until the pandemic, despite them pulling out of the US and Mexico series after 2012 and that many teams still run dodges despite lack of factory support (being a spec style series for engines, there's less of a need for factory support as a whole) The Pinty's series was the biggest holdout that Dodge would return. Now it's uncertain of course if they will ever return.
I loved the alliance challenger, when i was a kid i would play with all of my 1:64s & i would pretend to be a driver in it lmao, i loved that car, i miss dodge being in nascar
I am a mopar guy and want dodge back. They won the championship in 2012 with Keselowski then left. Watch the wind tunnel interview with Brad if you wanna see a funny interview of a near blackout hammered Brad. I still have my 1970 Plymouth Duster that I got in high school 20 years ago that I dream of putting a Dodge R5P7 in someday.
Seeing Alon Day’s run at Mid Ohio was a cool reminder that the zombie Dodge still had a presence in the series, I remember watching this race with some friends and one of them was like “wait is that a Dodge? I thought they left NASCAR”
It’s a shame no one were going to use Dodge and they kinda got forced out. Because their company churns out muscle cars and ridiculous HP, which would seemingly go hand in hand with NASCAR
Who knows? Maybe Chrysler will take advantage of the power vacuum that will open should General Motors decide to leave after the Camaro’s no longer eligible. Contrary to their original plan, the new Charger is going to have an internal combustion option, albeit in the form of the same turbo straight six that’s going into the new Ram. I suspect that it may have been their plan all along. If they just told people that the new Charger wouldn’t have a V8 option, they might not be willing to give the turbo six a chance. But if they told them that it’s going to be electric only, then later tell them that it’ll have an ICE option after all, then they might be more receptive to the idea of two fewer cylinders and forced induction.
Sadly, with the end of the Charger, Challenger, and 300C, Chrysler and Dodge WILL be the next two domestic brands to go under, leaving "Stellantis" (stupid name) with only Ram and Jeep in the US.
Fun fact... stellantis actually can re-enter the sport with Ferrari. If they wish. Even if they scrap challenger altogether, they still have plenty of models, including Ferrari to come back... as long as they have american base
Got an idea for a video: Perhaps talk about some famous athletes from other sports investing into NASCAR. Guys like Joe Washington, Mark Rypien, Julius Erving, and of course Michael Jordan
I hated Brad in Dodge because of how he raced Edwards. Im a die-hard Ford fan, I nothing more than Ford to win, but seeing Brad in a Ford makes me happy.
Dodge did consider coming back a couple years ago, but they ultimately decided against it because nobody wanted to shoulder the cost of starting up a new engine program. That's probably going to be the main reason we won't see any new or returning brands coming into NASCAR anytime soon, unfortunately.
😂😂 Dodges have Discontinued the Challenger a 2nd time. Discontinued the Charger a 3rd or 4th time. 😂😂. Camaro is also Discontinued a 2nd time. Even though not a fan of them in Nascar it leaves the Mustangs to stay in a foreign Nascar sport now. Nascar was originally a Sadan vehicle version. They need to bring back Sadans. Now honestly its so weird to see Mustangs on a Nascar track with only 1 car left. Camery took it over from American teams. Mustangs is still standing tall as always but again we need Sadans back.
😂😂you know ford in the cup series this year is sucking complete shit? They just got their first win of the season a couple weeks ago…whole Chevy and Toyota are winning every week, just like how Kyle Larson took that number five Chevy to victory Lane last week 🤡. Dodgers is discontinuing their cars because of what our society is going into being electric vehicles, there’s also a bunch of thefts with these cars because people love these cars you clown, not because they’re crap cars. And same with Chevy, I see a crap ton of Camaros out on the road every day it’s not because they want to discontinue it, it’s because our economy is going into electric and Chevy and Dodge has respect for the cars instead of putting electric motors in them and like 🤡 ford lmao
@JimVaught-qm6gf I had it backwards. Oh well good catch. The 3000 Gt VR4 Twin Turbo was a beast. Only 1 they for Mitsubishi. Others I agree. Had a 3000 Gt VR4 Twin Turbo. Sold it for my Formula and my 67 Impala along with a 68 Torino Gt.
Are you a fan of the destiny franchise by chance? I could be super confused but I feel like a couple vids of yours I’ve seen have had music from the soundtrack
The weirdest thing about Dodge pulling out of the Cup series was that they would have absolutely SLAYED as a fan favorite with a Hellcat Charger or Challenger body. You know it would have been the best looking of all the manufacturers and probably would have the best marketing/commercials of all the brands😢
Dodges always looked the best. It's a shame we never got to see a next gen Charger body. The closest I can think of would be the Dodge NHRA funny cars.
@@vanillawafer176 I figured it out Mike Wallace and JJ Yeley led Dodge to there final few top 10s Wallace 10th at the summer Daytona race Yeley 7th at fall Talladaga race
Please tell me you know of the independent driver who brought Richard Pettys 60 something Plymouth thinking he had chance, and then the factory teams show with the winged Super Birds and Daytonas.
How can you blame Dodge for quitting nascar, factory homologation is dead, how does it benefit them to donate a few million to the France family every year JUST TO RUN A PLASTIC PICTURE OF A CHALLENGER GRILL AND A PLASTIC PICTURE OF A CHALLENGER TAILIGHT SECTION Printed on a car that in no way shape or form resemble a Chrysler product meanwhile producing the best factory stock racing engines in the world totally cockblocked from being able to run them? I see their point, what business benefit does Dodge get from paying millions to slap pictures of the front grill and tailights on a car just like all the others, (minus theyr fake grilles etc) At this point they hardly need help from nascar, thanks to Mercedes designing all theyr recent inventory on previous mercedes platforms, nascar benefits more from having Dodge/Chrysler in the field than Chrysler does from sponsoring nascar ..
