Mike Delahanty

Mike Delahanty’s passion for drag racing began when he drove through the gate at Cecil County Dragway in 1965. It didn’t take long for him to gravitate towards the power and speed developed by the muscle cars of the day—but it was the Stockers that grabbed his attention.

Those Small- and Big-Block muscle cars thundered on track, each brand gunning for supremacy. Top-name drivers and journeymen alike raced every week in production vehicles, tuning and driving to the best of their ability. The goal, put your car and your brand in front of the competition.

The former Jerseyite took his passion for racing to Detroit where he’s been involved in motorsports nearly his entire career. Delahanty spent three decades with Chrysler before taking a job with the Blue Oval. And this week, he’ll start a new chapter, as product manager for driveline components and drag racing program manager at Ford Motor Company.

Delahanty knows racing from the corporate side, as well as the driver’s seat. He’s been racing since 1974 and has competed in Stock Eliminator in a variety of vehicles, ironically though, never in a Ford. In fact, his current ride is a beautiful 1964 Plymouth that runs in AA/SA.

CL: How long have you been with Ford Motor Company?

MD: Well, I started in April 2009 at Ford performance after a 32-year career at Chrysler. I was a service rep for AMC, then I was a warranty auditor, and I had a few other jobs as well. I really had two great jobs at Chrysler. One was “Competitive Analyst,” that meant I was the company spy. I would go to the big auto shows and to races and such and I was responsible for figuring out what every one was doing in the future. Then, after that, I was the marketing manager at Dodge for NASCAR. They were two great jobs, I’m the luckiest guy in the industry. As marketing manager I was in charge of all the team contracts and anything non-technical. Marketing, fan interaction, etc.

I retired in 2008 from Chrysler, and I’d known Brian Wolfe at Ford, and he had an opportunity for me at Ford Racing (now Ford Performance). I was hired to build the presence of Ford crate engines in circle track racing. Basically everything from ARCA to local short tracks, both asphalt and dirt. That led to my job managing all the components and crate engines in the Ford Performance catalog, which has grown to include sealed crate engines for classes like NMRA Coyote Stock, plus our line of EcoBoost engines and all the component.

At the end of 2016 I did a brief stint for an agency that wanted an expert in drag racing to work with Dodge, and I gave it a try. Leaving Ford was the hardest thing in the world for me to do, but it wasn’t what I’d though it would be. So when the position opened on the drag racing side with Ford when Jesse Kershaw left, I made a call and they accepted me back. The good news is that everything keeps carrying on as it was.

CL: What can Sportsman racers expect moving forward:

MD: We want to keep all the Cobra Jet momentum going, and let people know that anyone drag racing a Ford-powered vehicle gets the support they need. It’s all about keeping the Blue Oval out front. We want guys who run Stock and Super Stock to have someone who knows that type of racing.

CL: Why do you race Stock Eliminator and what car do you run?

MD: I got hooked on stockers the first time I went to Cecil County Dragway in 1965. I’ve had a dedicated Stocker race car since about 1974. My first car was a 1966 Chevy Biscayne, with a 325/396 and a Powerglide that ran in G/SA. I’ve had some Pontiacs, and Oldsmobiles, too, and in 2006 got the Max Wedge car that I compete in now. It’s a 1964 Plymouth that runs in AA/SA. It’s a really fun car to race, I won the Norwalk LODRS 2015, a IHRA Pro Am in Pittsburg in 2015, and Stock at the Class Nationals in Columbus.

CL: What can racers expect from you and Ford Performance moving forward?

MD: Jesse [Kershaw] did a great job and there won’t be any significant changes right away. But looking forward, we want to keep up with the Cobra Jets and the shootouts that we do with NMRA and NMCA and of course the Factory Stock Showdown in NHRA. I’ll be attending NMRA, NMCA and NHRA events and I’ll be there to talk with the customers. The thing is, that type of racing and even the weekly bracket racing, needs a better spotlight. I want to tip my hat to those guys, they race our products every week and they drive Ford vehicles.

All the sanctioning bodies are important to us. Especially an association that has our brand name in the title. We’ll continue to be at the track, talking to racers and trying to grow our participation. People love the fact that someone from Ford is there from the company they love. We’ll be there because we care, we listen and we’ll strive give them the tools for success.

CL: Thank your for your time

MD: Thank you, keep up the good work, we’ll see you at the track.