Battling snow and high winds, Sammy Swindell and the No. 5 Forbrook Motorsports team picked up their first World of Outlaws Sprint Series win at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday night. Swindell, who won the first dash event on Friday night to earn a pole position starting spot, took the lead on lap 11 of the 30-lap A-main event. The Gaerte Engines-powered No. 5 team also earned a seventh-place finish in Thursday night's A-main event.

Joey Saldana and the No. 9 Kasey Kahne Racing team picked up a ninth place finish in the A-main on Thursday night and a fifth-place finish in the Friday A-Main. Saldana is currently second in the World of Outlaws Sprint Series point standings. Kevin Swindell debuted his new Gary Stanton-built Mopar engine in the two-day event, earning a solid sixth-place finish on Thursday night, and a 21st-place finish in the Friday A-main event.

Paul McMahan and the No. 20 Tony Stewart Motorsports team turned in a solid performance in National Sprint Tour competition over the weekend, earning a 12th-place finish in Friday night's A-main event at the Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, N.M. The No. 20 team is currently fifth in the National Sprint Tour Series points championship. The second night of the event was canceled due to high winds.

For info on McMahan, Saldana, Sammy and Kevin Swindell, the World of Outlaws Sprint Series or the National Sprint Tour, log on to paulmcmahanracing.com, joeysaldana.com, swindellmotorsports/citymaker.com, theworldofoutlaws.com or nationalsprinttour.com.

When Team Mopar decided to campaign the Mopar Dodge Charger in Formula D Drift competition in 2006, it went in with the knowledge that it wouldn't be a simple task. Transforming a Dodge Charger chassis into a drift car that Samuel Hubinette could pilot to another Formula D championship hasn't been easy, but it's a challenge that Team Mopar has faced head-on.

"This wasn't a typical project," said Eric Vickerman, the SRT (DaimlerChrysler's Street and Racing Technology division) engineer heading up the Mopar Dodge Charger project. "We had a lot of challenges. This is the first-ever attempt at a race car based on the SRT8 Charger platform. We are really breaking new ground, and under a tight deadline. It's hard work, but everyone who worked on the project at SRT enjoyed the challenge."

One of the main challenges for the SRT group was to trim the fat out of the Charger.

"We did quite a bit to get the weight down," explained Vickerman. "The street Charger clocks in at about 4,100 lbs. To cut weight, we removed the interior for the largest weight savings, and replaced the body panels with carbon fiber panels. Replacing the glass with polycarbonate also significantly lowered the weight."

Another challenge was the disparity between the Charger and the Viper SRT10 that Hubinette piloted to a runner-up finish in the 2005 Formula D Series.

"They're not similar at all. Everything is different," Vickerman said. "The weight, the length, the engine, the starting platform, everything is different. We really had to start from scratch. It was not easy. We didn't have a lot of reference for what we were doing. That was probably one of the greatest obstacles."

Phase II of the Mopar Dodge Charger buildup is currently in progress, as team owner Shaun Carlson and the NuFormz Racing Team are taking the baton from SRT and finishing up the final work on the Charger. Hubinette and the NuFormz Racing team will aim to debut the Charger at the first Formula D event of the season at Long Beach, Calif., on April 2. For more info on Hubinette or Formula D, log on to samuelhubinette.com or formulad.com.

Steve Francis is geared up to return to World of Outlaws Late Model Series action this coming weekend, as the no. 15 team will travel to the deep south to continue on the 2006 Outlaw trail. Francis and company will compete at the Baton Rouge Raceway on Friday and the Fast Trax Motorplex on Saturday for the Bayou Battle.

One dollar of every gate admission from the Friday event will be donated to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, to assist with the regions that were affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Francis leads the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship chase heading into this weekend's events. In only 21 starts this season, "The Kentucky Colonel" has earned five victories, 10 Top-five finishes and 15 Top-10 finishes to date. Francis is seeking his first World of Outlaws Late Model Series title in 2006, after finishing as the series runner-up in 2004 and 2005. The No. 15 team utilizes Mopar power built by Gary Stanton.

For more information regarding Francis and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, log on to stevefrancisracing.com or woolms.com.

Funny Car points pacesetter Ron Capps will be looking to maintain his lead entering the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla., this weekend. For his Team Mopar and Don Schumacher Racing teammates, Gary Scelzi and Whit Bazemore, the Gatornats bring an opportunity to move up the standings and improve upon their first-round exits at the previous event in Phoenix.

Capps will look to take his first win at Gainesville, as his best finish at the track was a runner-up in 2000. Bazemore, who won the Gatornats event last year, will look to make it two in a row, and Scelzi will look to match or better his semifinals showing at the 2005 Gatornats.

Capps leads second-place John Force in the Funny Car points battle by 15 markers, with Scelzi clocking in at ninth and Bazemore twelfth. Qualifying from the Gatornationals can be seen on ESPN2 this Sunday from 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., with eliminations coverage from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more info on Capps, Scelzi, Bazemore or the NHRA, log on to shoeracing.com or nhra.com.

Team Mopar's Pro Stock contingent of Richie Stevens Jr., Shaun Carlson and Allen Johnson are looking to shake off their early season cobwebs at this weekend's NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

Stevens, coming off a quarterfinals appearance at the Checker Schuck's Kragen NHRA Nationals, will be looking for his first Gatornats win, as will Johnson. Carlson, in his Pro Stock rookie season, will look to record his first career Pro Stock win at Gainesville.

Stevens enters the Gatornationals at ninth in the Pro Stock points race, with Johnson 14th and Carlson 18th. Qualifying from the Gatornationals can be seen on ESPN2 this Sunday from 12:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m., with eliminations coverage from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For more info on Stevens, Carlson, Johnson or the NHRA, log on to shoeracing.com , allenjohnson.com or nhra.com.

Mopar has renewed its IHRA contingency program for 2006, giving money to racers who win with specified Mopar parts. Mopar has also teamed up with the IHRA to take the IHRA Summit SuperSeries World Championship to the next level as a sponsor of the Box World Championship, and will provide a Mopar Performance 528 HEMI Crate engine for the 4-link dragster built by Race Tech Cars, which will be given to the Box World Champion. Mopar has teamed up with Ray Barton to race-prep the 528 Hemi. In addition, the Direct Connection trailer and support staff are scheduled to attend several IHRA events.

"We post contingency dollars for people who are campaigning race cars and winning with certain Mopar parts, such as blocks, heads and valve covers," said Jon Clark, Manager of Performance Parts and Direct Connection. "IHRA will distribute money on our behalf. It makes racing in IHRA more attractive for people who are running Mopars. Every time a driver wins, if they are using Mopar parts, they receive a contingency payout, which is a fixed amount that is multiplied based on the qualifying parts the racer is running. The more Mopar parts they run with, the more money they get."

For the Box World Championship, all IHRA participants will race for a Performance Rating (P.R.), which is figured on the average amount of wins in 30 runs. Each track will determine a P.R. winner, who will then run against the P.R. winner from other tracks in their division. The winner, along with two lottery winners with a performance rating of over .500, are sent to the IHRA World Finals in Rockingham, N.C., all expenses paid, to compete in the Elite 8 program on October 20-22, 2006. The Elite 8 racers from each division will compete in the nationally televised event for sponsor prizes, including the grand prize of a complete 4-link dragster built by Race Tech Race Cars in Burlington, N.C., for the Box World Champion. The car, equipped with the 528 HEMI crate engine, will be displayed at select national events.

For more info on the IHRA or Mopar, log on to ihra.com.com, mopar.com or moparspeed.com.