If the annual Mopar Super Stock
Hemi Challenge had been a boxing match, it would have been halted by
the fifth round. As it was, the SS/AH racers who participated in the
annual Indy event had to endure three full days of punishment by
Charlie Westcott Jr., who drove his War Fish Barracuda to the SS/AH
class title at Indy for the third time in the last four years. While
most of his opponents were running in the 8.8-second zone, Westcott,
and his father, Charlie Sr., were cranking out 8.6-second runs with
alarming consistency. In the final round Charlie Jr., defeated his old
nemesis Bucky Hess, 8.65 to 8.86.
"This car is for sale but the price just went up," said
Westcott, who collected a $15,000 bonus from Mopar Performance, $10,000
for winning the Hemi Challenge and an additional $5,000 for claiming
the overall 2008 Hemi Challenge series title. "I had the field covered
today but that doesn't always guarantee a victory. You can't win if you
don't have a fast car, but you can lose even if you've got the quickest
car so I had to do my job as a driver. I think the final round was
right about where I wanted to be. I had a decent light and my car ran
exactly what it should have run. Other than having my dad in the final
we did just what we wanted to do this weekend."