Just as Ford annouces it’s wind back of local motorsport Chrysler Australia has announced their involvement in the growing Australian Drag Racing scene with the support of Lee Bektash and his Pro Stock Dodge Avenger.

“We’re proud to be involved with Lee and his team. They’re a small operation with a big heart and competitive quarter mile times”, said Robert Moorcroft, general manager service and parts, Chrysler Australia.

 ”Our Mopar team within Chrysler Australia are extremely excited to work with Lee and support him in everyway we can. We’re involved in the V8 Supercar series with our 300C SRT8 pace cars and now in Pro Stock drag racing, combined, they’re a great fit for our brands”, said Moorcroft. 

Lee is no stranger to success. During the 2000/2001 season Lee raced in Super Gas where he was undefeated with 26 straight round wins, something never achieved before in Australian Drag racing history. In 2008, Lee was only able to run in half the Pro Stock season and still managed to finish 6th out of a group of 20 racers.

 At this year’s WINTERNATIONALS Lee and his team came second in qualifying and managed to beat the current Australian Pro Stock champion. Lee has a clear objective for the 2008/2009 season and that’s to win the championship.

 ”We’re not in it for our good looks, our passion for racing is what gets us over the line and we have one goal, to win the championship”, said Lee Bektash, Team Dodge driver. 

A key part of the Dodge team is Con Sideris of PRE Race Engines. Cons long list of achievements includes multiple records and event wins as engine builder and on many occasions as Crew Chief. Just some of Con’s milestones include two Pro Stock championships, the first engine builder to crack 7.2 and 7.1 second sprints in Australian Pro Stock and he built the first naturally aspirated motor to break into the six second range.

 ”I’ve always been fortunate enough to have great people around me and I’m now excited to have a great sponsor on board”, said Bektash. 

For more information, log on to www.moparsunday.com The Melbourne based team of J.C. sign writers worked with Chrysler Australia to design and wrap the vehicle which will be used to help support Chrysler’s push for the Mopar parts and accessories brand “down under”. 

Mopar Performance accessories will be available through Chrysler Jeep Dodge dealers. Chrysler Australia said that the company is focused on supplying parts and accessories that further enhance the standard vehicle at a reasonable price. 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, the Mopar brand made its mark in the 1960s.

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.

with: Chrysler Media