Ford and Pro Stock

[Bunkster]

Ford and NHRA Pro Stock, for the next 1000 years, can be defined by only one image:

[Myron Piatek]

A field with Challengers and Camaros would have helped fan interest and possibly evened up the aerodynamics with the Mustang. Were the Fords "downsized" to help them be competitive against the other smaller cars?

[Kenny Wigington]

Ralph, is this a rumor, or in print ? If this is true, this is bad.

[Michael Kilduff]

Originally Posted by Bunkster

Ford and NHRA Pro Stock, for the next 1000 years, can be defined by only one image:

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

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

[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.

[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.

[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