{"id":31284,"date":"2023-08-05T21:52:24","date_gmt":"2023-08-06T01:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=31284"},"modified":"2023-08-07T09:22:46","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T13:22:46","slug":"payne-how-ford-racing-has-become-an-integral-part-of-ford-production","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2023\/08\/payne-how-ford-racing-has-become-an-integral-part-of-ford-production","title":{"rendered":"Payne: How Ford racing has become an integral part of Ford production"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concord, North Carolina<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 In the lobby of the state-of-the-art Ford Performance Tech Center here, visitors are greeted by a grainy black-and-white picture of Henry Ford at the wheel of his Sweepstakes race car on a dirt horse track in Grosse Pointe. In large type above it, the caption reads:<\/p>\n

“In 1901, Henry Ford designed and built the race car called \u2018Sweepstakes.\u2019 On October 10 of that year, he drove Sweepstakes against Alexander Winton, a famous racer and builder. Against all odds Ford won. That was the beginning \u2014 \u2018the race that changed the world\u2019 \u2014 and it continues today as the spirit of Henry Ford lives with us every day through our motorsports efforts around the world.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Racing is in Ford Motor Co.\u2019s DNA, and 122 years after that picture was taken, motorsports is more integrated into the company than ever before.<\/p>\n

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Behind the lobby wall, Ford has invested millions of dollars in three racing simulators used \u2014 not just to service the NASCAR, sportscar and rally teams that race Fords \u2014 but to test current production performance beasts like the Ford Raptor and Mustang Dark Horse, whose racing-inspired capabilities would awe Henry Ford if he were alive today.<\/p>\n