In the 1960s and 1970s, people who wanted to race their Plymouth, Dodge, and Chrysler cars could buy the parts Chrysler Corporation supplied to professional racers—through the aptly named Direct Connection, Mopar’s way to directly connect Joe Sixpack to race-equipment engineers.
Chrysler started taking racing seriously a little late, but then 1962 Max Wedge engine started to dominate tracks, and they created company package cars. After the engineers shared their parts with racers such as the legendary Don Garlits, they opened up the program to a wider audience, creating Direct Connection.
The name was eventually replaced, in the late 1980s, by Mopar Performance; but Dodge is bringing back Direct Connection now along with another new performance programs and enthusiast-inspired initiatives. The rollout will be announced on dodge.com on November 8, 2021 at 1 pm, eastern time.
David Zatz started what was to become the world’s biggest, most comprehensive Mopar site in 1994 as he pursued a career in organizational research and change. After a chemo-induced break, during which he wrote car books covering Vipers, minivans, and Jeeps, he returned with Patrick Rall to create StellPower.com for daily news, and to set up MoTales for mo’ tales.
David Zatz has around 30 years of experience in covering Chrysler/Mopar news and history, and most recently wrote Century of Chrysler, a 100-year retrospective on the Chrysler marque.
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