Center Line, Mich. - Brian Collins, driver and co-owner of the Collins Motorsports No. 12 Mopar® Dodge Ram Trophy Truck, refuses to bow in the face of bad luck. The Collins Motorsports team has endured unfortunate breaks recently, including mishaps during both days of competition at January’s SCORE Desert event in Laughlin, Nev. But Collins’ resolve hasn’t wavered. The Las Vegas resident remains confident he can manufacture his own good luck with help from Mopar power at the upcoming 22nd Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250. The San Felipe will be on March 15 in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico.

“I’m really not big on the good luck/bad luck talk,” said Collins. “We’ve had some misfortunes, but that’s just racing. To have them two days in a row is really unfortunate, but you work through it.”

Barring any problems, Collins will drive the entire 232-mile race course solo (his Collins Motorsports co-drivers, Chuck Hovey and Larry Ragland, will be on hand for back up and support). The team was scheduled to begin testing in San Felipe on Saturday, March 8, with plans to pre-run the entire course each day up until race day, making small changes all the while to the Mopar Dodge Ram Trophy Truck.

Although hungry for his first victory under the Team Mopar banner, Collins remains one cool customer, thanks in part to reassurance gained from having Mopar in his corner for the long haul.

“That’s one thing that’s nice about having Mopar and Dodge on board for the long-term. We don’t have to panic,” said Collins. “We can stick to our plan. We’ve teamed up with Mopar and Dodge in fine-tuning some odds and ends. We’ve also been working with Kevin Kroyer [supplier of Mopar R5 aluminum blocks for the team, as well the on-track powertrain advisor]. We’re constantly fine-tuning and updating to make the Mopar Dodge Ram Trophy Truck better after each race. We’re going to just keep moving forward and hopefully those wins will come.”

“Each event that the Collins Motorsports team competes in serves as a test bed for our new ‘Trail” initiative – Mopar Performance Parts for Jeep® vehicles and Dodge trucks,” said Rob Richard, Director of Mopar Parts, Sales and Service Marketing, Chrysler LLC.

Mopar’s “Trail” initiative was announced at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas in October 2007.

“The team’s assistance in testing and developing Mopar’s new off-road parts has been invaluable. It’s only a matter of time before Brian and his talented team places Mopar in the winner’s circle for the first time since the brand’s return to off-road racing.”

Collins Motorsports team views the 22nd Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 as challenging fun
The second event in the 2008 SCORE Desert Series, the 22nd annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250, features a looping course that begins near the landmark San Felipe Arches and finishes 232 miles later just south of the Arches. One of more than 250 entries in 28 Pro and six Sportsman classes, the Collins Motorsports team will begin the race in the 11th position of the Trophy Truck class. The team is no stranger to the rugged San Felipe off-road trail.

“San Felipe is always a fun race to go to,” said Robbie Goerke, team manager and co-owner of Collins Motorsports. His brother, Billy Goerke, is also a co-owner, as well as the team’s crew chief. “We’ve had our ups and downs there. We’ve had a chance to win, and a flat tire 10 miles from the finish line took us out. The track is a really fast track. You’ve got to have your suspension really dialed in to go racing.”

Goerke added, “The rough there is like rough you have never seen before. Even in the United States, there is nothing comparable to it. There’s a 20-mile section that travels the Zoo Road, and if you don’t set up your truck right, you’ll burn your shocks in the first 20 miles of the race. Our shocks get to over 400 degrees all through that section.”

“I’ve done pretty real [in the past] at San Felipe. It’s a great track,” said Collins. “It’s one of the more off-road tracks. We don’t run on a lot of roads, like we do in the Baja 1000. It’s really rough, really tough, and it’s good for our team.”

Said Goerke, “Right now, we have definitely got the truck to beat. We’ve been doing so much testing, and [Kevin] Kroyer has been developing the engine more and more. It’s just all really coming together.”

Information about the 22nd Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250
The green flag will drop on the 22nd Annual Tecate SCORE San Felipe 250 on Saturday, March 15. Pre-race festivities, including the SCORE Midway and tech inspections, will take place on Friday, March 14. The awards celebration will take place in the Plaza on the Malecon on Sunday, March 16. 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.

Visit Chrysler’s Media Services Web site at www.media.chrysler.com for additional Chrysler news. For additional information about Mopar, log on to www.mopar.com or www.moparspeed.com.