It was Brian's accomplishments, not his employment, that got him noticed. He drove home from his driver's license test in his first car, a '68 Fairlane with a 428 Cobra Jet engine. It saw plenty of action, but after he started working at Ford, Brian bought a spanking-new, red '86 5.0 hatchback-the first of the fuel-injected Mustangs. This was when traditional techno-challenged enthusiasts were disgustedly selling their fuelie hardware at swap meets to bolt Holley four-barrels in their place, but Brian wanted to develop the new system. Collaborating with Hank Dertain-a riotously over-caffeinated Ford SVO engineer assigned to small-block development, and a rabid enthusiast himself-Brian got a set of Hank's prototype GT-40 cylinder heads, intake, throttle body, and other supporting hardware for his fuelie Mustang. Wolfe would give the soon-to-be SVO parts a real-world evaluation.
The results were spectacular. In 1989, no one could get the new fuel-injected Mustang to run a few tenths better than stock. Electronics were from the devil and the fuel-injected Mustang seen as evil by the hard-core, but Brian's GT-40 combination turned heads.
"The first time I went out in that car with those parts on it, and a few other suspension modifications I had made, it turned 12.40s, which was faster than my 428 Cobra Jet had ever gone," he recalls. "I was thinking, Wow, this is pretty cool, and it's a lot easier to work on than my Cobra Jet. From there, that Mustang became the first fuel-injected, naturally aspirated 5.0-liter to run 11s, 10s, and 9s in the quarter-mile. I competed in Pro 5.0 with it on nitrous, and the car went 8.30s before I backed away from that program when I got an assignment in Europe."
Looking appropriately mean...
Looking appropriately mean is Brian's legendary red '86 GT. A personal effort of Wolfe's, it was an important step in delivering the seminal GT-40 engine parts that kicked the 5.0-liter movement into high gear. Brian still has this historic racer, so you may have a chance to see it run yet.
In fact, it was by way of Hank, Brian, and his '86 hatchback that Super Ford magazine presented the GT-40 parts in a January '90 feature. The 5.0 was on its way, and Brian was in the vanguard. Always testing and improving his combination, he regularly called the magazine with testing results; on our trips to Dearborn, a side visit to Brian was often on the schedule.
It was during those after-hour get-togethers that we came to appreciate his two-headed existence. Tough as it was to get him to say anything about his importance inside Ford, meeting Brian at his Advanced Engines office made it obvious that this was not just some tech with a knack for tuning, but rather an up-and-coming star in Ford powertrain. Then Brian would ditch the tie and we'd head down to a sleepy, little machine shop to work on his Mustang's race motor. At that point, we were with another Ford enthusiast, and it was a revelation to see just how hands-on a white-collar Ford man could get.
With his transfer to Europe in the later '90s, Brian's direct participation in Mustang racing ended. With his return as director of Ford Racing, a new generation of enthusiasts will benefit from his passion for moving Fords forward.
Brian's duties at Ford Racing are twofold. The familiar parts program is charged with developing go-fast gear for performance Fords, as seen in the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog. The engineers and business managers developing those parts answer directly to Brian. But many enthusiasts overlook the fact that Ford Racing is also the keeper of Ford's money and engineering assets in pro racing. That means Brian is the gatekeeper to Ford's involvement in NASCAR, NHRA, IndyCar, Formula One, World Rallying Championship, sedan and off-road racing, and wherever else pro racers and television cameras congregate.
With a heads-up sportsman drag racer such as Brian at the wheel, we expect Ford Racing's support of this long-neglected but sizeable market to strengthen. Though developed mainly during Dan Davis' tenure, the recently announced Cobra Jet Mustang factory racers are but one example. Look, too, for spin-off parts and parts packages to support grassroots racers.