With the kickoff of the new NHRA POWERade season only days away, one thing is clear: the Team Mopar and Don Schumacher Racing NHRA POWERade Funny Car trio of Gary Scelzi, Ron Capps, and Jack Beckman, appear ready to make another run at the championship in 2007, beginning at this weekend’s season opener, the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona, Calif.

The trio, who combined for seven Funny Car wins last year, utilized Hemi power to take three of the top four quickest elapsed times at the January 26-28 Phoenix test session, as clocked the top speed as well. The performance has left the three Team Mopar drivers chomping at the bit to hit the Pomona strip.

"It’s great, what's going on in this whole DSR team," said Ron Capps, driver of the Brut Revolution Dodge Charger R/T. Capps had five Funny Car wins last year, the most on the circuit, and finished third in the points standings after leading the race for most of the year. "We were trying different injectors off of [Beckman’s] car, we were swapping things with [Scelzi’s] car and trying things for them, and they were trying things for us. With the three Funny Cars working so well together, it’s going to be a fun season."

That positive outlook is echoed by Gary Scelzi, driver of the Mopar/Oakley Dodge Charger R/T. "One word sums it up: ‘Exciting,'" said Scelzi of the coming season. The veteran driver took home one win in 2006, at Mopar’s marquee event, the Mopar Mile-High Nationals. "We're very pleased and we're very excited about going to Pomona."

Standout newcomer Jack Beckman set quickest and fastest national records in 2006, and he powered to one win in only five Funny Car starts for Team Mopar and DSR last year. The test session at Phoenix offered valuable seat time in his Mail Terminal Services Dodge Charger R/T, in preparation for Pomona.

Team Mopar Pro Stockers Allen Johnson, and Richie Stevens Jr., , who joined forces last year to power Stevens Jr. to two wins in the last five events, will attempt to repeat their successful partnership in 2007. The duo will go into battle together again at this weekend’s season opening NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif.

Stevens Jr., driver of the Team Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus R/T owned by Don Schumacher Racing, tasted victory at Dallas and Las Vegas last year. Allen Johnson also excelled in 2006 in his Mopar/Johnson & Johnson Racing Dodge Stratus R/T, taking a win at Seattle and finishing sixth in the final NHRA POWERade Pro Stock standings.

Both Stevens Jr. and Johnson feel the two-team approach is the way to go in today’s ultra-competitive Pro Stock Series, where mere thousandths of a second make the difference between winning and losing.

"The past couple of years, two-car teams have pretty much dominated Pro Stock and won the championships," said Stevens Jr. "With Allen and me teaming up, maybe one of us can go out and do that this year. We should be able to give some of these top-notch teams a run for their money."

The J&J crew’s outstanding performance and teamwork in the last half of 2006 has Johnson and Stevens Jr. feeling confident as the season-opening event approaches.

"The power that Roy Johnson is making is unbelievable," Stevens Jr. said. "The consistent qualifying, which comes from having good power, has been a real big plus. It takes team chemistry to make things work, which J&J definitely has. It builds confidence, when you go up there and you know that you have a team that is behind you and supporting you. I feel really relaxed with them behind me."

"I’m ready," said an excited Stevens Jr. "I almost didn’t want last year to end, as well as we were doing toward the end of the season. It was kind of hard to say goodbye, with both me and Allen doing great. I had the best last quarter of all the seasons I’ve driven. We’ll just try to pick up where we left off last year."

For more information on the NHRA, log on to nhra.com. To read more about Stevens and Johnson, log on to shoeracing.com.

Right now, at the dawn of February, all is relatively quiet at Kasey Kahne Racing, save for the metallic ring of wrenches performing last-minute preparations. But, boy, what a difference the next 10 months will make.

Mud will fly. Sparks will fly. Checkered flags will certainly fly.

KKR, owned by NASCAR Nextel Cup superstar Kasey Kahne, is the official factory race team for the Mopar brand in USAC’s National Midget Car and Sprint Car divisions, as well as the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. In the last ten seasons, Mopar has powered drivers to six USAC National Series championships as well as a World of Outlaws Sprint Series title in 1999.

Competing in both the USAC National Midget Car Series and the USAC Sprint Car Series will be Tennessee’s Kevin Swindell and Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon. Bryan Clauson, a California native who now calls Indiana his home, will also compete in select USAC events. Indiana’s Joey Saldana will shoe the Mopar’s winged World of Outlaws entry.

For Bacon and Swindell, the USAC season begins on Feb. 9-10, with both Sprint Car and Midget events at the Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix. Saldana’s quest for the World of Outlaws championship begins that same weekend at the Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

On the USAC side of the team-where each of the drivers is just 17 years old-youth is the watchword. In 2006, Swindell became the youngest driver ever to win a World of Outlaws A-main, and also earned a USAC National Midget Car Series victory at Toledo, Ohio.

Bacon was the 2006 Southern Midget Racing Series Champion, and in limited USAC outings last season earned a Midget victory at Kokomo, Ind. And part-timer Clauson already has USAC National Midget and Sprint car victories on his résumé.

This is Saldana’s second year with the team. He finished third in the WoO points standings, and won seven A-mains including one of the circuit’s marquee events, the King’s Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.

Today, all is calm. But the next sound you hear might be the scream of a Mopar engine, answering the throttle-stomping call of Saldana, Swindell, Bacon or Clauson. Get used to it. It’s going to be a long season.

For more information regarding Kasey Kahne Racing, log on to kaseykahne.com. For more info on USACS, log on to usacs.com or worldofoutlaws.com.