Somewhat scathing article on Ford racing website

[Stray Kat]

Link http://www.fordracing.com/news/detail/?article=30839

 

 

 

It's about time we've seen some passionate verbage from the higher ups. People tend to follow leaders and in this age of political correctness leadership is on the wane if you ask me. But here Edsel II fires off a piece of his mind and I think he is on the money. I tell you Dale Jarrett's exodus seems to be the cause of this article but Ford has been flat assed burned by quite a few current and future luminaries. The cases of Jeff Gorden and Kasey Kahne are the most famous. In both of those situations the drivers named were being brought up and to the big leagues by Ford's driver development program. Ford was shafted in both cases in the 11th hour when the youngsters bolted for greener pastures. It never sits well with me, I must admit, when Gorden brings home a win for Hendrick because I feel that Mr. Gorden was aquired in an illigitamate way.

 

Anyway I'm inspired by Edsel's passion. I have always liked him, and this article gives us a slice of his true feelings. What do you guys think, don't we need more of this???

Edited July 14, 2006 by Stray Kat

[Stray Kat]

Boy I never thought this topic would drop like a sinker! Don't nobody care about loyalty out thar??? Usually stuff like this gets flamed properly. C'mon boys where's your spirit?

[RichardJensen]

I was going to say that it confirmed the family loyalty that exists between Ford and their oldest racing partners. There are few relationships in racing like the links between Yates, the Wood Brothers and Ford. The Wood Brothers helped Ford win at LeMans.

 

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Also, the article now requires a log-in. (didn't last night)

 

Really irks me about Ford Racing--their silly subscription thing. Sorry, i never joined a fan club when I was young and impressionable, and I'm not about to start now.

[sparks will fly]

First its Gordon, Kahne won the lawsuit against Ford because the didn't hold up thier end of the deal. Jarrett being an ex champ is why Toyota wanted him, guarenteed the first 5 races. Sorry but no one has been more loyal to Ford than the Wood brothers, Robert Yates, and Jack Roush.

[Blueblood]

Can someone post the article? I'd love to read it..

[oac bodyboy]

I couldn't read the article but I am a huge Yates fan. Dale Jarrett leaving for Toyota is crap!!! 20 million dollars that is were DJ loyalty is. After all RYR did for him, 30 race wins, No Bull win 2 Dayton's 500 wins Indy win and of course the 99 Championship. Now DJ fans might say that he is responsible for all of his success and if that is the case than he can be blamed for the teams lack of performance too! Now it is rumoured this weekend that Yates other driver Elliott Sadler is also leaving and taking the high dollar sponsor with him to a dodge team! Ford has lost some pretty big names in the recent past, Jeff Gordon, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahan, Erin Crocker, Jeremy Mayfield, Kurt Bucsh and his brother Kyle, Jeff Burton, and drivers like Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott went to other manufactures and retired or close to it and didn't finish their careers in a ford!!! I hope North American Nascar fans keep on booing all Toyota teams and we see a decline in the popularity of Nascar because of the France family to allow the japanese to race!!!

 

The other thing that scares me is all these big name American companies, like UPS, NAPA, BURGAR KING, on a Toyota camry race car just make Toyota look more American as the apple pie cooling on the kitchen window sill!

[4d4evr-1]

LOYALTY STILL MATTERS TO ME

7/13/2006

 

COMMENTARY

 

"Money talks. Loyalty walks.â€â€”Marty Smith, nascar.com, May 9, 2006

 

Dearborn, Mich. — I read the line above a few weeks back, as speculation about Dale Jarrett’s future was swirling in the media.

 

It made me wince.

 

It made me wish for a simpler day in the world of sports, when guys like Al Kaline or Joe DiMaggio played their entire careers for one baseball team. They became the living, breathing symbols of what was right with the game of baseball. When the sport was played more on the field, and less in arbitration.

 

And it made me wonder: Does loyalty matter in racing anymore? Does anyone care?

 

Well, I do. And I’m not going to mince words. Dale Jarrett leaving Robert Yates Racing bothers me.

 

A guy like Dale, who we went to bat for in 1995 with Robert Yates to form the Quality Care/Ford Credit 88 team, and who we celebrated a 1999 Winston Cup title with, and who we helped open a successful Ford dealership, and who we trusted to test our new Taurus and new Fusion, and who we looked to as the living, breathing symbol of what was right with the Ford Racing program … is gone at the end of this year.

 

I know many of you are as unhappy as I am about this. We’ve seen your e-mails and your notes on Internet message boards.

 

But what’s done is done. As Marty Smith wrote, it appears money talked and loyalty walked.

 

That said, I’d prefer to focus the rest of this column on those people who have been loyal … as kind of a tribute to them.

 

Let’s look around today’s Ford Racing program and appreciate some of them:

 

First off, say thanks to Jack Roush, who this year is celebrating his 40th anniversary of racing Fords. Jack started as a Ford engineer and in 1966 joined an employee group called the Fastbacks, who raced their Ford cars on the weekends. Forty years later, he and his teams have won championships for Ford in drag racing, sports car racing and all three classes of NASCAR. By the time you read this, we’ll have awarded Jack a Spirit of Ford Award for his achievements and … yes, his loyalty.

 

What can we say about the Wood Brothers? More than 50 years of racing nothing but Ford Motor Company products. Their 97 NASCAR wins is still No. 1 on our list, and their class on and off the track is legendary. I feel like their family is truly part of our family.

 

Robert Yates started his racing career at Holman-Moody in 1968, and when it came time to have his own team in 1988, he went with Ford and remains with us to this day. Robert’s son, Doug, parlayed his father’s knowledge of engines to head up the Roush-Yates Ford engine shop, which is the envy of NASCAR teams today.

 

Rick Crawford and his Circle Bar truck racing team had an attractive offer to leave Ford when Toyota entered the Craftsman Truck Series a couple years back. Rick and his owner both felt that Ford had treated them right throughout the years, and decided not just to stay, but to also repaint their truck transporter as a rolling billboard for the Ford F-150. We will never forget that.

 

John Force Racing remains fiercely loyal after coming to Ford in 1997. John, his drivers and his family are not just championship-quality people, but great ambassadors for us in drag racing.

 

Mark Martin was going to reduce his schedule this year by running the Craftsman Truck Series, but his team needed him for one more year in Cup. Mark showed great loyalty to Jack Roush and Ford by not only staying on, but also proving he is still one of the sport’s best. He’s a Ford dealer, and a class act.

 

Bob East had a chance to move with Lewis Racing into the Toyota USAC camp at the end of last year. But after posing this question to the media—“What kind of message would that send to my son?â€â€”he stayed with Ford and continues to oversee Ford’s driver development program while son Bobby competes in his rookie year in the Craftsman Truck Series.

 

Those are just a few of the Ford people and teams right now who come to mind when I think about our current programs. If you think back through history, you’ll find even more people including Junie Donlavey and Bud Moore, Bill Stroppe, Bob Glidden, Jackie Stewart and even Mose Nowland, who is now working on 51 years of helping Ford racers win.

 

I also know there’s a lot of you weekend and grassroots racers who are just as loyal. People who wouldn’t wear a bow tie, or switch to a Hemi, or drive a Toyota if it was free.

 

Maybe we don’t thank people for their loyalty enough. So, as you send letters and write to message boards about those you feel have been disloyal, maybe it’s also time to send a note to those who have been loyal to Ford and the program.

 

Thank them. Tell them how much you appreciate that loyalty. And let them know what it means to you. I appreciate your loyalty, and I thank you for it.

 

Edsel B. Ford II is the Chairman

of Team Ford Racing and Member

No. 001