history

The summer of 1999 I spent a lot of Saturday nights carousing at area cruise nights. Since I had recently purchased a 1971 Dodge Dart Swinger, I made a point to talk to other Mopar owners. I talked to a lot of different people and made friends with them all. During our bragging and bench racing sessions, the same statement came up. “We need a Mopar club in this area!” The Corvette folks, and Mustang folks, the street rod folks and vintage auto folks had organized clubs. Myself, Al and Deb Burke, and Mike Murphree worked hard to create a Mopar only club. Each contributed what they could and on July 29th, 2000 a Mopar only cruise was held at Complete Auto Care on College Avenue in Fayetteville. But these folks weren’t the only ones that helped make this club go. Nearly 30 people signed up that first night to become part of this new thing called the Ozark Mopar Club. Among that group were people who are still a vital part of the clubs doings, including Ed and Peggy Stevenson, Trent Garner, Greg and Jennifer Garner, Brian Leach, and Jim and Teddi Lothes. Enthusiasm was high. Electricity was in the air as was the smell of high-octane fuel and burnt rubber. This seminal idea had grown into an actual club where people paid money just for the honor of being in a Mopar club.

It was obvious folks were excited about a Mopar club in this area. It seemed like with every passing week the club gathered two or three new members. 50, 60, 75 and then 100 members strong became part of the week-to-week goings on. Expectations were exceeded several times over but with the new growth came new challenges. Many of our new members weren’t located in the geographical area of Northwest Arkansas. The Internet opened up a new world to our club and expanded the borders. Darel and Deb Pellham steered the website and the accompanying egroup. But even the traditional membership base went beyond the borders of NWA. We had members in Russellville, Clarksville, Little Rock, eastern Oklahoma, and southwestern Missouri. It was great that so many people were nuts about Mopars. But even greater challenges lie ahead for the club that went beyond keeping in contact with so many folks across such a large area.

An opportunity became available for our club to co-sponsor the annual Mopar show and drags at Centerville Dragway just south of Russellville. Our club had never done anything like that but it was an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up. We felt our way through that first show and learned much but not without some voiced complaints. Fortunately, Mopars fans are a congenial bunch that don’t take potshots, especially at fellow Mopar fans. We learned from those mistakes and moved forward. It was a good thing we did, because later that year another opportunity became available to co-sponsor a car show. Al Burke had been in contact with Springdale Dodge and a very enthusiastic General Manager named Randle Oxford was very interested in holding a Mopar only car show in Springdale. Once again, an opportunity that couldn’t be passed up was placed before us. Randle asked us to provide 30 show cars, but thanks to excellent advertising and a strong showing from our Mopar brethren from the Route 66 Mopar Club, there were over 70 cars in attendance. We came away from that first show at Springdale Dodge with a lot of pride, but our club had gone from a very simple, loosely organized group, to a business like entity that required a great deal of planning. It sounds cliché, but our club had lost its innocence. We are now in the planning stages for the 8th Annual Mopars In The Ozarks Show hosted by Lewis Chrysler Dodge in Fayetteville, AR., as well as our 8th year co-sponsoring the Centerville Mopar Event but instead of continuing to expand, our club membership reeled in and has wavered between 30 and 50 members, not including egroup membership. Probably a much more manageable number considering how young a club we are.

There have been other highlights in this clubs early years. In June of 2001, the Ozark Mopar Club was featured in the “Our Town” section of the Sunday Edition of the Morning News of Northwest Arkansas. Writer Bettina Lehovec scripted a wonderful piece that cast a positive light on the often-maligned muscle car crowd. Of course, our club reached the masses by way of the Internet and Darel and Deb Pellhams expertise. Our annual Daytona 500 watch party continues to be a good social event ever since Dodge re-entered NASCAR. Many of our members’ “caravan” to local and regional car shows and races, further solidifying our clubs sense of togetherness.

So what about the cars? This is after all a car club. Consider some of the rides our members possess. We have not one but two Hemi powered A100’s, rare sunroofed versions of a Dodge Charger and Dodge Dart Sport, a drop top Plymouth Fury, an extremely rare four speed shifted 1964 Chrysler 300, a lil Red Express, early Mopars from the 30’s and 40’s and a host of others. But the club has never been about rarity or pristine condition autos. You don’t even have to own a Mopar to be a part of the club. You just have to love the make. That’s what makes us different.

There have been shifts in leadership over the past eight years and with those changes the clubs personality followed. Roger Bubniak served as the clubs leader for the first couple years and helped move it from a loose group of Saturday night cruisers to its first level of organization complete with newsletter, club officers, and business meetings. Though Roger had the assistance of many club members, his passion gave way to burnout and it was time for a change. Consequently, Greg Garner was elected as our second president. Tapping into his previous experience with a motorcycle club, he brought a new sense of order and focus that was missing from our meetings. Greg introduced tech sessions and new events to the club such as the poker run. Currently, Jessica Puryear is leading our members.

So, in eight short years our club has kept several traditions and created new ones along the way. The membership has grown and it has retreated. Change has and will continue to take place though we are sure the Ozark Mopar Club will remain. We hope you will continue be a part of its’ success.