The No. 23 Challenger Dodge Charger at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend is Chassis No. 78. Its most recent notable performance was when it carried the CAT Racing team to a season-best fourth-place start at Kansas Speedway earlier this month (finished 27th). It then went on to help the CAT Racing team score a 14th-place start at Lowe’s Motor Speedway (finished 20th) the following week. The No. 22 team also competed with the same car at the Charlotte track in May, racing it in both the NASCAR Nextel Cup All-Star Open and the Coca-Cola 600. The team’s All-Star open effort produced a 15th-place start and finish. With less than 10 laps remaining in the Coca-Cola 600 the following weekend, the team was on its way to a season-best top-10 finish when the leader of the race blew a tire just a few cars in front of the Caterpillar car and collected it in the process, relegating it from a seventh-place run to a 23rd-place finish (started 32nd).
A Winning Combination … The Challenger® brand, which already graces a full line of quality tractors, combines and hay tools, is making its debut as a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series primary sponsor by riding on board with Johnny Benson and the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Dodge this weekend in Atlanta. Atlanta is Challenger’s home track, as the corporate headquarters for parent company AGCO Corp. are located in Duluth, Ga. This is not the first association between NASCAR and Challenger. The Challenger brand made its initial Nextel Cup sponsorship debut as a new associate sponsor of the No. 22 Caterpillar car and driver Scott Wimmer this August in the Allstate 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and has been along for the ride every weekend since. It will continue its associate program with the No. 22 team through 2006. For the last couple of years, HOLT CAT in Dallas, Texas, has also supplied Texas Motor Speedway with several Challenger wheel tractors that are used for year-round maintenance of the 1,500-acre complex. For more information on any of Challenger’s full line of agricultural products visit www.challengerag.com.
About AGCO … AGCO Corporation, the parent company of the Challenger® brand, is headquartered in Duluth, Ga. AGCO is a global manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment and related replacement parts, with product distribution in more than 140 countries. AGCO offers a full product line including tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage, tillage equipment and implements through more than 3,900 independent dealers and distributors around the world. AGCO products are distributed under the various well-known brand names AGCOÒ, ChallengerÒ, Fendt®, GleanerÒ, HesstonÒ, Massey FergusonÒ, New IdeaÒ, RoGatorÒ, Spra‑CoupeÒ, SunflowerÒ, Terra-GatorÒ, ValtraÒ, and White™ Planters. AGCO provides retail financing through AGCO Finance in North America and through Agricredit in Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ireland and Brazil. In 2004, AGCO had net sales of $5.3 billion. To learn more about AGCO, go to www.agcocorp.com.
Tested & Approved … To prepare for this weekend’s Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500, Benson and the No. 23 Challenger Racing team tested at Atlanta Motor Speedway Monday, Oct. 17.
It’s a double-header weekend for Benson … Before climbing into the No. 23 Challenger Dodge this Sunday to race in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Benson will race the No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 at Atlanta Saturday afternoon. This weekend’s race will be the 22nd Craftsman Truck Series race of the 2005 season. Benson currently stands 16th in the truck series championship standings. Qualifying for the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, Oct. 29. The EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 will follow later that same day, starting at 3:15 p.m. ET, and will broadcast LIVE on SPEED (TV), MRN (radio) and XM Radio Channel 144.
Team 23 roster … Along with Bill and Gail Davis, the following is a list of crew members who will help Benson with the No. 23 Challenger Dodge Charger this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
Weekend Crew Over-the-wall Crew
Co-Crew Chief: Doug Wolcott FT Carrier: Shane Pugh
Co-Crew Chief: Rick Ren FT Changer: Chris Beeson
Car Chief: Tom Hubert Jackman: Joel Taylor
Mechanic: Steve Spahr RT Carrier: Curtis Martin
Mechanic: Josh Crumpler RT Changer: Bill Hagerthy
Mechanic: Dewayne Cassell Gasman: Scott Weston
Engine Tuner: Chuck Evans Catch can: Kevin Gately
Tires: Steven Berry Driver Support: Chip Wile
Shocks: Dennis Feibel
Spotter: Bill Davis
Truck Driver: Robbie Flint
Tune in … Qualifying for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 is scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. ET Friday, Oct. 28, and will broadcast LIVE on PRN (radio) and XM Radio Channel 144. The qualifying session will broadcast on a tape-delayed basis on SPEED (TV) starting at 8 p.m. ET. The Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 is scheduled to start at 12:40 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 30, and will broadcast LIVE on NBC (TV), PRN and XM Radio Channel 144.
Johnny, how did the one-day test session at AMS go for you earlier this week? What was learned? “It was a tough session for us to get acclimated with the car. We got through the morning practice and were running both cars to decide which would be the one to focus on for next weekend. We made that decision, got to that point, broke for lunch, and then went out to test some more. We put on some new tires and ran about six laps, and then blew a tire. I hit the wall pretty hard and the hit pretty much killed the car. So that part was obviously tough. The focus then, of course, turned to the back-up car, and for some reason we couldn’t get it up to speed the rest of the day. We just were not fast enough. We did a lot of stuff to it. It didn’t show a lot of improvement, so we knew we needed to find another car that would get us in the show. We came back to the shop to find a car we felt more comfortable taking to the track and that would be more likely to get us into the race, and that is what led us to chassis No. 78. It is the same car Scott Wimmer and the CAT Racing team have raced the last couple of weeks at Kansas and Lowe’s and have been able to lock in some great starts, so we’re hoping the car will be able to help us do the same this week.”
The last time you raced at Atlanta in a Cup car was in 2003. What do you worry about or look forward to regarding your return to the Cup series at Atlanta? “I always look forward to getting to race more. Of course, I am looking forward to it, but I also know we have to qualify. That puts us in a tough situation especially at an impound track, because which one do you work toward? You have to work on race setup, but at the same time we have to be able to qualify well. We want to be good enough to race, but we have to make the race. We have to find that balance. I don’t care where I start, just as long as I am in a decent race car when that green flag waves. I also know we may have to give up a little bit of that to just get to make the start. It’s all about splitting our time up and being smart about how we do that. I just want to have a good run and be able to put on a good show for Challenger. We will be racing practically in the company’s backyard. Its parent company [AGCO Corp.] is headquartered in Duluth.”
You have had some pretty impressive runs in the past at Atlanta. You won a NASCAR Busch Series race there in 1995 and your first NASCAR Cup pole there in 1996. What are some of your most memorable moments at Atlanta Motor Speedway? “It is a neat place. I really liked the old track, but I like the new one as well. I’ve really run well there in the Busch, Cup and Truck Series. It is a good place to race because it has more than one groove. It definitely makes for a good show for the fans and enables us to move around a lot more. It doesn’t make it easier to race, but it gives you options to find what works best for you and your car to get around the speedway.”
Q&A with Doug Durand, Challenger Brand Marketing Manager:
What turned Challenger toward NASCAR or made it something to consider as part of its marketing endeavors? “Since 2002, when AGCO acquired the highly-respected line of Challenger tracked tractors from Caterpillar and formed an agreement with the CAT dealers to market and service the full line of Challenger machinery, there has been a strong relationship between Caterpillar and Challenger. We felt that being involved with Bill Davis Racing and having the Challenger logo on the Caterpillar cup car would reinforce this relationship and our commitment. We are excited at the opportunity to expose the Challenger brand to all the NASCAR fans in North America.”
Are there plans to do more down the road in NASCAR? If so, what avenues are being considered? “Our 2005 and 2006 sponsorship represents our first entry into NASCAR. At this point in the season, it is still early in the sponsorship, but we are constantly evaluating each of our brand marketing initiatives. With the popularity of NASCAR among our target customer segment, we hope to see growth in Challenger brand awareness as well as increased recognition of our association with Caterpillar and Cat dealers throughout the U.S. and Canada. These results will lead us to doing more with NASCAR and many different options are being considered.”
What made Challenger decide to team up with Bill Davis Racing and Johnny Benson, as well as Scott Wimmer? “We’re thrilled to have joined Bill Davis Racing as a sponsor for the 2005 and 2006 racing seasons and believe they have the same winning drive and ambition toward their goals on the track as we do in the field. That same energy can be felt throughout our CAT dealer network as we all stand behind both Johnny and Scott as they take to the track on Sunday.”
