Poking the Bear Ford Performance Products

[Jim D'Amore]

Let me start off by saying this has been the feeling of many Ford production car and Cobra Jet owners.....

To the administrator of Classracer.com, I am sorry. The last time I made a post like this the "drag race manager" of Ford Performance pulled their long term sponsorship from this site because he took it personally. He has no regards for what this site does for Cobra Jet owners as well as the benefit it provides to Ford Performance vehicle and parts sales.

The air kit for the 2013-2014 Cobra Jet 5.0L NA engine combination was NHRA approved through the old Ford Performance drag race manager, Jesse Kershaw. An owner of a 2014 Cobra Jet had contacted Ford Performance for one and Ford Performance said they were unavailable. So we had contacted a Cobra Jet owner who had one but was not using it. It was being shipped to us, and the current Ford Performance drag racing manager went out of his way to put a stop to it. His reasoning, one of his buddies that he gets FREE parts from could not get one before we received it. So if he couldn't have it then he didn't want us to have it either. I contacted the manufacturer of the original part and they contacted the Ford Performance drag race manager and he said they would not authorize the part to be reproduced until AFTER Indy. I have an email as proof backing up these claims. Instead of helping a Cobra Jet win, he allowed the other manufacturers to run away with the class.

Most of the Fastest Cobra Jet's out there are still running the factory computer system. In fact one of the Cobra Jet owners who's invested probably the most into his car, First 8 second stock eliminator. He asked Mike the "drag race manager" if he could get help from Ford with getting more RPM out of his computer. Mike told him that it would not be a problem and would help out. Despite repeated attempts to get an answer and almost a year later Mike has not given any help.

Charlotte, NC NHRA I was proud to pilot the prototype Cobra Jet code named "M02." With the New FGT classes I made the car a candidate for #1 Qualifier. With rain over the weekend it cancelled class and made the car class winner based on qualifying times. The Ford Performance "drag race manger" would not recognize the #1 qualifier because he said the car was cheating and in the wrong class. The car was tech'd in by Dave Ley. So I went back to Dave, he confirmed the math on the weight and engine combination to be legal. I have the original tech card and the weights of the car from the whole weekend. Two weeks from then was the Dutch classic and to prove the car was legal I intended to set a national record with it and go through tear down. NHRA agreed to seal the motor. The car owner then got a notice from Mike the Ford Performance "drag racing manager" stating that because the car was prototype it was not legal to race. Ending all chances of setting a national record and me proving him wrong.

NOTE: *M01 is owned by a reputable Cobra Jet builder who has set a national record. Mike likes him though so it makes this car "OK" to race at NHRA events....

After all of this I contacted Mike on his cell phone. He told me that this is what I get for "poking the bear" on the 2013-2014 Air kits because I went over his head to his boss. He did this all as a personal vendetta. This is not Mike's first time using his position for personal gains.

A few months back said "drag race manager" took a popular competition legal stock eliminator Cobra Jet engine combination off the books. He sent an email to NHRA saying please take the 5.4L with 4.0L Supercharger engine combination out of competition for the showdown class. The combination is still approved for Stock Eliminator however, he can't take that away. NHRA had to listen because it was "FORD" saying they did not want the combination in the books. Even though it was legal, deemed by NHRA, and was on the books for almost 3 weeks! Meanwhile many Cobra Jet owners already started investing a lot of money to use the particular combination in shoot out! I have no idea why the current Ford Performance "drag racing manager" wouldn't want to use all his tools in the tool shed and possibly add another 10+ Cobra Jets to the showdown class which is being dominated by GM and Mopar.

There was a big push by the older Cobra Jet owners to be able to run in the showdown class. So Mike the Ford Performance "drag racing manager" sent out an elaborate email to the older CJ owners that everybody has a copy off and he claimed to send to NHRA. After 3 months of not hearing anything the Cobra Jet owners contacted NHRA and NHRA contacted Mike and said they were willing to listen to the new options to which Mike said "Ford is no longer interested" even NHRA told me they didn't understand why he was doing that.

All of these claims are based off facts, verified by emails from NHRA, higher ups at Ford Motor Company, and various CJ owners. I was told to deal with Mike's direct boss who has been since let go from Ford Motor Company. So I contacted someone inside Ford who I thought was interested with Ford's Performance on the race track and he no longer holds his position. So the current Ford Performance drag race manager has held his position for less than 2 years and in that time he has alienated people that have been loyal to Ford for over 30 years and has spent was more money with Ford than he can imagine.

To add insult to injury for all Cobra Jet owners, at Gainesville this year he had made it seem like he had the new air kit for the 2016 Cobra Jet's approved for NHRA and the fact was he never even spoke to him about it. So when the Showdown class Cobra Jets showed up they had to take their air kits off their cars because Mike never got them approved by NHRA.

This is an ego driven sport otherwise we wouldn't be spending this much money. Mike poked the wrong bear this time with his comments on FS/D class.


Jim D'Amore