Team Mopar®'s Coons Clinches USAC Sprint Championship at Manzy
It's official: Team Mopar® driver Jerry Coons Jr. is the 2008 United States Auto Club (USAC) National Sprint Car Series champion. The popular Arizona veteran clinched the title—his first in the Sprint Cars after two consecutive USAC Mopar Midget National championships—in his home state with a fifth-place finish in the Friday night opening round of the Nov. 7-8 "Western World Championships" at the Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix.
The Saturday event might have generated less celebration but it was actually more productive for Coons, who scored a terrific runner-up finish in the Manzanita finale. Coons and his team, Hoffman Auto Racing, won three USAC features during the '08 season (Richmond in June, plus back-to-back "Indiana Sprint Week" events in July), relying on Mopar horsepower provided by Gaerte Engines. Combined with his 2006 and 2007 USAC Midget championships, Coons has now claimed three consecutive titles with the aid of Mopar power.
The "Western World" is considered one of the nation's premier non-winged Sprint races. Some 64 cars attempted to qualify at the fabled half-mile Manzanita dirt oval, with Kasey Kahne Racing's Brad Sweet setting fast time in Friday's time trials. Though vastly outnumbered, Mopars comprised four of the fastest 10 qualifiers, with Coons (seventh), Damion Gardner (ninth) and Brady Bacon (10th) joining Sweet in that elite group.
In Friday night's 25-lap preliminary feature, Coons and ninth-place Sweet were the top Mopar finishers. Bacon, in the second Kahne car, had problems and placed 22nd, with J.J. Yeley's Triple Crown entry sidelined early and officially classified 28th. After his solid qualifying run, Gardner and his Leffler Racing Sprinter were eliminated in a heat race flip.
Coons nearly ended his championship season with a victory in Saturday's 40-lap headliner, missing by just one spot. Sweet also improved, placing eighth. Bacon was 17th at the checkers, with Gardner (24th) and Yeley (27th) again having hard-luck nights.
In the final reckoning, four Mopars were in the top 10 in the 2008 USAC Sprint Car standings: champion Coons, plus Sweet, Bacon and Gardner, who were eighth through 10th, respectively. Fourth-place Cole Whitt and sixth-place Darren Hagen both utilized Mopar engines in selected events. For more info on the USAC Racing Series, visit http://www.usacracing.com.
