EMPRINGHAM CLINCHES THE GRAND-AM CUP SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP AND FORD TAKESHOME THE MANUFACTURER'S CHAMPIONSHIP
It was a banner day for Ford Racing on Saturday at VirginiaInternational Raceway as David Empringham clinched the 2005 Grand-Am CupSeries driver's championship with his third-place finish in the Grand-AmCup 200, and a Mustang victory secured the manufacturer's championshipfor Ford. The Blackforest Motorsports No. 5 Mustang FR500C co-driven byTom Nastasi and Ian James took the checkered flag for second time thisseason, adding to their season-opening victory at Daytona in February,while the No. 05 Multimatic Motorsports Mustang FR500C crossed the linein third place. In addition to the driver's championship, MultimaticMotorsports also clinched the team championship with the No. 05 Mustangthat was driven by David Empringham and Scott Maxwell.
In just its first year of competition, the Mustang FR500C was driven toa series-high five victories that included a win in its race debut atDaytona in February. The Ford Racing Mustang FR500C was developed byFord Racing Technology and is available through Ford Racing PerformanceParts as a complete "ready-to-race" package for the Grand-Am Cup Series.
Manufacturer Championship Tidbits
Ford won the Grand-Am Cup manufacturer's championship in its firstseason with the Mustang FR500C.
Ford accumulated 357 points this season with six drivers contributing.
Ford captured five wins this season, compared to BMW's five and Nissan'sone.
Ford drivers who have won races in 2005: Empringham (3), Jeannette (2),Maxwell (2), James (2), Nastasi (2), Gue (1).
Ford had only one finish outside the top three throughout the 10-raceseason.
Season Highlights
*Ford driver David Empringham won Ford's first Grand-Am Cup Seriesdriver's championship.
*Ford-backed Multimatic Motorsports won Ford's first Grand-Am Cup Seriesteam championship.
*Ford Mustang FR500C was driven to victory in its race debut at Daytonain February.
*Ford equaled the season-high win mark in the Grand-Am Cup Series withfive victories.
*Ford had six drivers win races in 2005, the most of any manufacturer inthe series.
Ford had three drivers place in the top five in the final pointstandings (Empringham, 1st; Maxwell, 2nd; James/Natasi, 5th)
Ford drivers who scored manufacturer points this season:
David Empringham: 164 points (five races)
Scott Maxwell: 129 points (four races)
Gunnar Jeannette: 128 points (four races)
Ian James: 100 points (three races)
Tom Nastasi: 100 points (three races)
James Gue: 93 points (three races)
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES: Grand-Am Cup 200
October 8, 2005 Virginia International Raceway
TOM NASTASI-5-Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang (Finished 1st)
HOW DIFFICULT WERE THE TRACK CONDITIONS TODAY WITH THE RAIN?
"I love driving in the rain, and I hoped it would rain the entire time. I drove the first stint and just kept the car on course, so that Iancould get in it and bring it home for us. He did that today and we justhad a powerful Mustang today. It's amazing that we were able to win thefirst race of the season and cap off the season with a victory heretoday."
IAN JAMES-5-Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang (Finished 1st)
"I'mreally happy. The Ford ran really strong today. Tom got at it and hadfun for a little while there and put me in the car in a good position.We really never had a challenge at all; it was fun."
DID THE NUMBER OF LATE CAUTION FLAGS HELP YOU WITH YOUR STRATEGY TODAY?
"It may have helped us in our fuel strategy, but at one point we had a20-second lead and we had to give that all up. It's tough when you haverestarts in these types of conditions and everybody gets bunched up, butwe had a strong Mustang today."
DID YOU THINK YOU HAD THE CAR TO BEAT WHEN YOU TOOK OVER DRIVING DUTIES?
"It's tough when you get in the car and you're near the back wheneverybody pitted before us, but I knew after two laps that we had astrong car and that we could challenge for the lead. It's just greatthat we were the ones that were able to deliver Ford the manufacturerchampionship."
YOU WON THE SEASON-OPENER AT DAYTONA AS WELL AS THE SERIES FINALE TODAY. COULD YOU THINK OF TWO BETTER RACES TO WIN?
"No, this is the greatest way to get our second win. We got Ford'sfirst win of the season and got their last to help clinch themanufacture's championship. It's nice to know that we were a criticalpart in winning any championship. This leads us into 2006 in a greatframe of mind."
SCOTT MAXWELL-05-Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang (Finished 2nd)
"We didn't have the car to win today, but it was a good car and it gotus not only the team championship, but David was able to clinch thedriver's championship. The Blackforest guys had the Mustang to beattoday, and our main objective was to win the driver, team andmanufacturer championships, which we did."
WAS THE RAIN THE BIGGEST OBSTACLE TODAY?
"It was the hardest thing for everyone today. The conditions weredefinitely slick out there and you just needed to try to keep your line. It made it tough to pass out there, but we knew we had a car that wasgood enough to run up front as long and we didn't get off course."
DAVID EMPRINGHAM-05-Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang (Finished 3rd)
"We had a great year, and Scotty and I have certainly enjoyed racingtogether. We got the championship; I wish we could be co-champions butit's a little bit of a points problem there. Multimatic won the teamchampionship and Ford the manufacturer, and it couldn't be better."
WILL YOU BE BACK NEXT YEAR TO DEFEND YOUR TITLE?
"I certainly hope so."
PUT THIS CHAMPIONSHIP IN PERSPECTIVE WITH YOUR OTHER RACINGACCOMPLISHMENTS?
"To put it in perspective, I'm 41 years old and I'm still able to race,and won with one of my best friends. It's been quite a season and we'veovercome a lot, and to bring Ford and Multimactic the championship inthe first year with the new Mustang is quite an accomplishment."
DID YOU THINK YOU HAD A CAR TO WIN THE RACE TODAY?
"We didn't have the car to win, but we knew going into this what weneeded to do to win the championship and we were able to do that today. We drove a conservative race knowing that the No.96 withdrew before thestart of the race, but we still wanted to finish off the season on astrong note."
DAN DAVIS, Director, Ford Racing Technology
"We finished the season the same way we started it, with a Mustang invictory lane. From winning the first race of the season in Daytona,following it up with four more wins and capping off the season with theGrand-Am Cup driver, manufacturer and team championships is just anincredible accomplishment by everyone involved. It has always been saidthat Mustang was made for racing - and once again, it has proven true."
"This championship is a great tribute to all of the hard work developingthe car by our guys in Dearborn and the Multimatic team who worked withus every step of the way. When we started this program our goal was tobuild and sell identical Mustangs that people could win with and I thinkwe proved that this year by having six different drivers take thecheckered flag in a Mustang."
LARRY HOLT, Multimatic Technical Director/Vice President of Engineering
YOU MANAGED TO WIN THE DRIVER, TEAM AND MANUFACTURER CHAMPIONSHIPSTODAY.
"This was a hell of a day. I just told Dave (Empringham) at the endthat the Pumpelly Porsche was coming at him. I said, 'You know what,that doesn't mean anything, just don't wreck this thing.' He did a greatjob, and Scotty, obviously, at the beginning of it did a great job. Wehad some problems early this morning in qualifying and these guys hadnothing to do with it, we messed, so this was a driver's day. It wasgreat. A customer won, so that was cool, too. That helped with thechampionship for Ford, so we got it all."
WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FOR NEXT YEAR?
"I'm not sure yet, but I would imagine that either myself or a customeris going to be doing well in this series."
FORD RACING NOTES AND QUOTES SPECIAL EDITION
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Ford Racing NASCAR Nextel Cup driver Dale Jarrett test drove the new2006 Ford Fusion for the first time today in the official on-trackNASCAR approval phase for the new car. The test took place Tuesday atAtlanta Motor Speedway in front of NASCAR officials.
Jarrett took to the AMS track at approximately 1:15 p.m. this afternoon,and completed a series of approval runs for NASCAR. The Wood BrothersRacing team prepped and ran the car for Jarrett, who drives for RobertYates Racing.
The new Fusion race car was scheduled to go to the Lockheed wind tunnellater in the day in Marietta, Ga., for its final NASCAR approval stage.
DALE JARRETT - Driver #88 UPS Ford
"I think things went really well. I was pleased with the way the newFord Fusion was as far as the balance entering and exiting the corner. It has a very nice look to it and performed well. We were able toachieve the speed that we were looking for, and hold on to the speed weneeded in a 10-lap run. I was very comfortable in the car."
WITH ONLY A FEW LAPS, WAS THERE ANY WAY TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEENTHE FUSION AND TAURUS?
"I think the biggest thing we fight with the Taurus is if we get enoughdownforce in the rear to make it to where we can drive at tracks likeAtlanta, getting into the corner, then usually we fight a problem of thefront end not sticking as good as we need. It wants to lift up. This carseems to have a better balance about it. That's what we were trying toachieve with the Fusion, and I think we've done that."
YOU DROVE THE PRODUCTION CAR RECENTLY IN MICHIGAN. WHAT ARE YOURTHOUGHTS?
"I think what we've done with the Fusion is that we built a car that'sgoing to be very nice on the race track, but it's going to be one thatthe public will go to a dealership and want to buy one. That's what wewant to achieve - something we can win with on Sunday and the publicwill buy on Monday."
EDDIE WOOD - Ford Racing/Wood Brothers team owner
HOW DO YOU FEEL THINGS WENT TODAY?
"From my standpoint, I just wanted to come down here and run what wewere supposed to run without anything happening to the race car. Thatwas our main goal. We brought an extra car (Taurus No. 21 car), just incase we needed an oil line or something like that. There is no partstruck to go to here, and nobody else to go borrow stuff from, so we camedown and approached this just like a normal race week. Fortunately,nothing was needed. Dale got in the car and ran the speed that NASCARneeded and now it's headed to the wind tunnel."
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS OF BUILDING THE CAR?
"Bernie Marcus (Ford aero expert) and Ben Leslie (Ford NASCAR FieldManager) did all the development work on the nose and the tail, and didit with our 40-percent scale model, and adapted it to the race car. FordRacing did a really good job; they had a timetable to meet and weactually got the car in a couple of weeks ahead of schedule, so we arepretty happy with that. We did the last submission car Ford did, andwith the Fusion being the new model for next year, it's pretty special."
GREG SPECHT - Operations Manager, Ford Racing Technology
THOUGHTS ON THE TEST?
"The day couldn't have gone better in my opinion. We did the minimumamount of laps that were required to demonstrate the car's capability toNASCAR and it performed flawlessly. We even beat the rain, so I'm happywith the way things worked out."
WHAT HAS THE MOOD BEEN SINCE THE PUBLIC UNVEILING OF FUSION TWO WEEKSAGO?
"The unveiling went so well, and of course we still have to get the carapproved by NASCAR, so there was a little bit of concern about todaygoing well. But now the first part of the day is behind us, the carlooked good, and we got very good feedback from Dale. He felt it waswell-balanced. As I said, this part of it couldn't have gone any better."