20 Years and Still Counting

From left to right: Peg Sjoberg (Roy’s Wife and General Manager), Jean Buchesky (Dave’s Wife), Mike Stephens, Dave Sweitlek, Pete Gladysz (eyes closed) and in front of Pete is his wife Judy (purple sweater). Next to Judy is Dick Winkles in the open jacket. Over Dick’s shoulder is Ben Swears (not original Team Viper, but now with SRT). Above Dick is Bill Adams looking to the left. In the original Team Viper hat is Dave ‘Bo’ Buchesky. In the black boatneck sweater is Lydia Fleming. Next to Lydia is Mike Cipponeri’s wife, Diane, holding baby. Above the baby and holding a beer is Ray Schilling. Bearded smile next to Ray is Joe Gall, and in the blue shirt is Charlie Brown III. That handsome bald guy is Ken Nowak with Mark Vermeersch next. Dr. Helen Cost is in front of Nowak, and Brian Shea is in front of Helen. Jim Sayen sitting in the black shirt. Ira Fisher is in his ’96 Indy 500 Pace Car shirt. Mike Cipponeri in the black Viper sweater above Ira. Roy Sjoberg in the white sweater. Stranger in the photo looking to the right. Brian Hoxie in the flannel shirt and open jacket. 
Herb Helbig on the far right end. —caption by Ken Nowak.

During a recent meeting with Dick Winkles, he invited us to come along with him to a reunion of the original Team Viper members. We jumped at the chance and followed him over to the Moose Preserve on Woodward Avenue in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. There, we found over twenty of the team members and Roy Sjoberg, the father of the Viper.

When Sjoberg put Team Viper together back in 1989, his goal was to create a group of car enthusiasts/entrepreneurs who would be friends—even family. To that end he organized trips and social events during which everyone could be together and have fun. “Roy is a real social animal,” said Ken Nowak, who was the engineer in charge of building the prototypes—including the first-ever Viper, the first GTS-R and many other new Viper designs.

“We got together frequently—from the very beginning, whether it was a VFW post in Hamtramck or Roy’s beautiful house on Mullet Lake,” said Nowak. “The first big event up at Roy’s was a snowmobile trip, and we brought along a sled we made from a scrap Viper hood, upon which we mounted three bucket seats and handlebars enough for people to ride on the frozen lake.” Sjoberg’s mission worked beautifully, as we witness the great product that came out of the group—and continues to emerge today—enthusiasts having a party with their friends to produce the best sports car in the world. The party never ended for these original Team Members and the friendships are as strong as ever.

Here’s how Nowak puts it on the opening page of the Team Viper forum:
“We are friends. We are engineers. We are designers, mechanics, managers and technicians. We are executives and we are clerks. We are builders and drivers and racers. We are people with grease under our fingernails and not afraid to roll up our sleeves to pick up a wrench, a pencil, or a broom, and get it done. We are people who think the word “can’t” is a challenge that means we haven’t quite figured it out yet. 

“We pumped Viper Red adrenaline into a lethargic K-Car Chrysler with outrageous rumbling prototypes and found a whole new way to build cars and energize a tired corporation. We battled and bloodied, then picked each other up and forged ahead together. Race tracks and drag strips were our proving grounds, and from Rodeo Drive to Le Mans and Daytona, the world was our stage.

“We were, and we are, a Team. We are a team that accomplished what few in this industry have dared attempt. We accomplished the birth of a true American icon.

“We are the people who took an impossible idea called ‘The Dodge Viper’…and made it real.”