Mopars at the Strip (MATS) is an annual gathering of the faithful, some of whom refer to the event as The Big Party. The largest West Coast gathering of Chrysler products features a full blown car show, drag racing, a special Pony Car Wars drag event for 2006 and later pony cars, a True Street Challenge and an autocross event.

Last year’s event brought the autocross challenge to life for the first time. Jointly sponsored by Hotchkis Sport Suspension and Keisler Engineering, the competition drew an outstanding turnout. Eleven-time National Autocross champion, Mary Pozzi, was on hand giving demo rides and instruction. She will be back this year, along with Aaron Ogawa, John Hotchkis and others.

Exhibition cars, scheduled for the autocross event, which runs from April 8 – 10, will include the Hotchkis 1970 E-Max Challenger, the Keisler Maximum Overdrive Barracuda, the Redline Gaugeworks 1969 Valiant and several other H-Team pro-touring Mopars. We met up recently with Shafi Keisler, president and CEO of Keisler Engineering, to find out more.

Street Legal: Shafi, what was the most memorable part of last year’s event for you?

Shafi Keisler: The young lady that recently turned 16 received for birthday a freshly restored Panther Pink ’72 Cuda that her uncle and father built. I saw her sitting in the staging lane the first day with Mary Pozzi in the passenger seat and it got my attention. I interviewed her and her family (Williams family), and it was a great story. (Ed. – See below for the interview.)

SLTV: What was the most interesting or unusual car that participated?

SK: The most unusual car was probably the 1972 Dodge Monaco Station wagon owned by a fellow since 1977. A very religious man with a large family, he had restored to the highly equipped Monaco with a beautiful multi-color scheme found in cars circa 1970-75, and stroked the 440 to nearly 500ci. The fellow was a hardcore Mopar fan, but didn’t know much about the autocross and found it interesting and wanted to try it. He was having a fun time, got excited, and wound up spinning out in a tight corner. Rather than easing back into the course he laid into it and did no less than two 360 degree donuts before re-entering the course. When he came through the finish line, he was asked not return because he broke course safety rules. It was unfortunate for him and everyone, but I spoke with him later and encouraged him to come back this year.

There were some other interesting cars – Julius Steurer’s 1971 Dodge Charger 440-6pack 4-speed 1 of 2 Sassy Grass Green, the Blues Brothers doing their comical gig autocross style, a PT Cruiser woody with surf boards.

Some of my favorites were: Greg Munsel’s ’67 HEMI Charger Keisler 5-speed, the sweet 16 (Jennifer Williams) autocrosser, the runner up for best of Modified class ’71 Cuda HEMI 5-speed “Fritz the Cat,” the Vipers, and of course Mary Pozzi tearing down the course with the Hotchkis E-Max Challenger.

SLTV: What advice do you have for those planning on coming out this year?

SK: Watch the videos from last year. Come out and walk the course half dozen times to help acquaint you with it, even to the point you can almost do it with your eyes closed – an SCCA instructor told me this.

SLTV: That’s great advice. Thanks a lot, Shafi.

So, check out this video below from last’s year’s event. More information on the upcoming version is available on the event web site.