Ford and Pro Stock

[comp 670]

All of you do realise that GM is not supporting Pro Stock either and has not for a few years right? Yet a GM won the championship this year... WHY do you think Ford not funding teams is going to kill Larry's program when he has not got one dollar from them anyway? As Ford racers we know it's up to us to fund our deals and we WILL make it work. The factorys have very little to do with Pro Stock......The factorys DO NOT do the R&D,the TEAMS do. The best thing the factorys do is help with aero stuff by letting the teams use the wind tunnel. And Ford has done that for Larry.

I'm going to do the best I can to run PS next season but it's TOTALLY up to me to find the funding to do so,not Ford...Would I like to see Ford step up and fund a few Pro Stock teams? YES,but I understand why it will not happen. It's more about inside Ford politics then anything else.

[Geerhead55]

Originally Posted by Michael Kilduff

No disrespect to Bob Glidden, but I think one could argue that Warren Johnson's and Lee Shepard 's images could define NHRA Pro Stock just as well.

Let's not forget Shepard was ruling the roost at the time of his death.

No disrespect to you, Michael,,but if you're going to honor the late great Pro Stock champion, spell his name correctly: Lee Shepherd,, and you're right, he was ruling the roost at the time of his fatal crash.
Go to Youtube: " Steve Evans on Lee Shepherd" this video was at the next national event following Lee's demise.
Danny Durham

[Michael Kilduff]

Originally Posted by Geerhead55

No disrespect to you, Michael,,but if you're going to honor the late great Pro Stock champion, spell his name correctly: Lee Shepherd,, and you're right, he was ruling the roost at the time of his fatal crash.
Go to Youtube: " Steve Evans on Lee Shepherd" this video was at the next national event following Lee's demise.
Danny Durham

Spelling is corrected. Thank you for pointing out my mistake, Danny.

[Ed Wright]

I hope our spelling mistakes never mis-type anything.

Guess autocorrect changed a mis-typed "mistakes" to something dirty. lol
I should pay more attention. Sorry.

[BlueOval Ralph]

But they (Ford) does support the NASCAR teams to the tune of about 5 million per car per year!

Originally Posted by comp 670

All of you do realise that GM is not supporting Pro Stock either and has not for a few years right? Yet a GM won the championship this year... WHY do you think Ford not funding teams is going to kill Larry's program when he has not got one dollar from them anyway? As Ford racers we know it's up to us to fund our deals and we WILL make it work. The factorys have very little to do with Pro Stock......The factorys DO NOT do the R&D,the TEAMS do. The best thing the factorys do is help with aero stuff by letting the teams use the wind tunnel. And Ford has done that for Larry.

I'm going to do the best I can to run PS next season but it's TOTALLY up to me to find the funding to do so,not Ford...Would I like to see Ford step up and fund a few Pro Stock teams? YES,but I understand why it will not happen. It's more about inside Ford politics then anything else.

[Jim B]

Originally Posted by BlueOval Ralph

But they (Ford) does support the NASCAR teams to the tune of about 5 million per car per year!

Yes but any big corporation (or any well run business for that matter) aims to spend their advertising money to get the most exposure for the buck. It would be hard to justify expenditures in present day NHRA drag racing when you compare the difference between the 10's of thousands of spectators at a Nascar Sprint Cup race and the spectator attendance at an NHRA national event. Yes, NASCAR attendance is down but the sanctioning body is taking proactive measures to reverse the trend. Not that it is soley NHRA's responsibility but you can't even compare the two sanctioning bodies when it comes to the marketing, preservation and expansion of the sports they individually regulate. The lower "classes" in NASCAR (truck, short track and grassroots, etc.) have not even come close to the level of degradation that the NHRA Sportsman categories have experienced, not entirely but largely due to business and common sense proactive measures taken by the sanctioning body. Whenever a regulatory agency choses to ignore a sizeable faction of it's knowledgeable member population it is rare that a declining scenario improves. Sad but true.... JMHO

[Casey Miles]

Pro Stock is in need of a change anyway, they should be flat hoods with FI, 375 ci. No one can relate to 500 ci with 2 x4 carbs anymore. Funny cars with doors!
Casey Miles
248H Stock?

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Jim B

Yes but any big corporation (or any well run business for that matter) aims to spend their advertising money to get the most exposure for the buck. It would be hard to justify expenditures in present day NHRA drag racing when you compare the difference between the 10's of thousands of spectators at a Nascar Sprint Cup race and the spectator attendance at an NHRA national event. Yes, NASCAR attendance is down but the sanctioning body is taking proactive measures to reverse the trend. Not that it is soley NHRA's responsibility but you can't even compare the two sanctioning bodies when it comes to the marketing, preservation and expansion of the sports they individually regulate. The lower "classes" in NASCAR (truck, short track and grassroots, etc.) have not even come close to the level of degradation that the NHRA Sportsman categories have experienced, not entirely but largely due to business and common sense proactive measures taken by the sanctioning body. Whenever a regulatory agency choses to ignore a sizeable faction of it's knowledgeable member population it is rare that a declining scenario improves. Sad but true.... JMHO

Very good post on one of the problems with NHRA today.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lee

...And Ford racers, the GT500 now comes with a carbon fiber driveshaft. Sounds like a superseded part in the making!

That's a great point which clicked on a light bulb in my brain.

In the early 50s, Zora Arkus Duntov wrote a letter to the big wigs at Chevrolet. He strongly made the case that the key to making the brand a performance icon (remember, at this time all they made were six cylinders) was to make inexpensive parts which would allow anyone to hop up their small block.

We got Duntov cams, big valve heads, intakes, and more. That was a stroke of genius, and the rest is history.

Why do we see so many Camaros in Stock and Super Stock? Because they follow Duntov's premise: fairly cheap (at least at one time), good performance, and easily available parts.

So here it is in 2011 and we have the same concept, of a manufacturer providing hard core racing parts to the masses. Except this time it's Ford.
They are the only OEM that cares about drag racing and it shows.

Keeping with the spirit of the thread, in my mind a carbon fiber driveshaft sold to anyone is much more significant than a hand-built Pro Stock car or two.

Unless one of the other manufacturers decides to compete, I would wager big money that the Mustangs will be the dominant cars 10 or 20 years from now and appear in the big numbers that Camaros do now.

[Ed Wright]

Great post, Dan.