Indy 500 winners meet the press during IndyCar winter meetings

By Jan 14, 2014, 9:00 PM EST
0 Comments

Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves – the four current IndyCar Series drivers that have won the Indianapolis 500 – looked ahead to the upcoming new season in a special press event today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum.

As part of the event, Dixon received a miniature version of the Astor Cup, which has been presented annually since 2011 to the IndyCar Series champion. The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver bagged his third series title with a fifth-place finish in last October’s season finale at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

This year, he’ll be out to defend the championship with Chevrolet power behind him on the No. 9 TCGR machine after running a Honda powerplant for the last eight seasons.

“In some ways, change is enlightening,” Dixon said of the switch today. “Over a two-year period – if you look at the previous four or five years with Honda, it wasn’t the same because there was no [engine] competition – the last two years was a short time, but it was relationships you’d be working on for quite some time.

“The change is what it is, but it makes it interesting, too. The engine is totally different, even though they are very close and competitive on track. The ways they have reached that power and driveability from different directions and that’s quite exciting.”

Also joining Dixon this season at TCGR is Kanaan, the reigning Indy 500 champion, who himself is due a mini-trophy within the next 24 hours.

“…Tomorrow, I go to Detroit to finally get my Baby Borg,” said Kanaan, who recently had his face unveiled on the big version of the Borg-Warner Trophy. “I don’t have my [winner’s] ring yet, which I’m waiting for quite anxiously. A lot of things have happened since [last May]. But I have to say, all the good things that happened was because of the win.”

Kanaan will get his first taste of driving the No. 10 TCGR Chevy – the former ride of good friend and recently retired Dario Franchitti – during a Bowtie manufacturer test on Friday at Sebring International Raceway.

Montoya, the 2000 Indy 500 winner, is returning full-time to open-wheel this year with Team Penske, and after facing the Speedway for the past seven years as a NASCAR driver, he’s eager to get back in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing this May.

“Every year you came here and you’re not in an Indy car, it’s cool, but you want to come to the Museum to see the Indy cars,” he explained. “It’s not the same. The Brickyard [400] is a big deal, but it’s not the Indy 500.

“I never thought I’d be back here to try to get another win. I’m excited and to race here for Team Penske is a hell of a chance [to win].”

Then there’s Castroneves, who will make another bid for his fourth Indy triumph on Memorial Day weekend. He likened the ongoing IndyCar winter meetings to “coming back to school,” and also expressed his hope of making more history at the Speedway.

“It would be amazing and a dream come true to be in the same group as [four-time Indy winners] Rick [Mears], A.J. Foyt and Al Unser Sr,” he said. “I know it’s a big task, but I have big dreams as well.”

Ford unveils a new Mustang for 2024 Le Mans in motorsports ‘lifestyle brand’ retooling

Associated PressJun 9, 2023, 7:00 PM EDT
Ford Mustang Le Mans
Ford Performance
1 Comment

LE MANS, France — Ford has planned a return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with its iconic Mustang muscle car next year under a massive rebranding of Ford Performance aimed at bringing the automotive manufacturer “into the racing business.”

The Friday unveil of the new Mustang Dark Horse-based race car follows Ford’s announcement in February (and a ballyhooed test at Sebring in March) that it will return to Formula One in 2026 in partnership with reigning world champion Red Bull.

The Mustang will enter the GT3 category next year with at least two cars in both IMSA and the World Endurance Championship, and is hopeful to earn an invitation to next year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The IMSA entries will be a factory Ford Performance program run by Multimatic, and a customer program in WEC with Proton Competition.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, also an amateur sports car racer, told The Associated Press the Mustang will be available to compete in various GT3 series across the globe to customer teams. But more important, Farley said, is the overall rebranding of Ford Performance – done by renowned motorsports designer Troy Lee – that is aimed at making Ford a lifestyle brand with a sporting mindset.

“It’s kind of like the company finding its own, and rediscovering its icons, and doubling down on them,” Farley told the AP. “And then this motorsports activity is getting serious about connecting enthusiast customers with those rediscovered icons. It’s a big switch for the company – this is really about building strong, iconic vehicles with enthusiasts at the center of our marketing.”

Ford last competed in sports car racing in 2019 as part of a three-year program with Chip Ganassi Racing. The team scored the class win at Le Mans in 2016 in a targeted performance aimed to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Ford snapping Ferrari’s six-year winning streak.

Ford on Friday displayed a Mustang with a Lee-designed livery that showcased the cleaner, simplified look that will soon be featured on all its racing vehicles. The traditional blue oval with Ford Performance in white lettering underneath will now be branded simply FP.

The new mark will be used across car liveries, merchandise and apparel, display assets, parts and accessories and in advertising.

Farley cited Porsche as an automaker that has successfully figured out how to sell cars to consumers and race cars in various series around the world while creating a culture of brand enthusiasts. He believes Ford’s new direction will help the company sell street cars, race cars, boost interest in driving schools, and create a merchandise line that convinces consumers that a stalwart of American automakers is a hip, cool brand.

“We’re going to build a global motorsports business off road and on road,” Farley told the AP, adding that the design of the Mustang is “unapologetically American.”

He lauded the work of Lee, who is considered the top helmet designer among race car drivers.

“We’re in the first inning of a nine inning game, and going to Le Mans is really important,” Farley said. “But for customer cars, getting the graphics right, designing race cars that win at all different levels, and then designing a racing brand for Ford Performance that gets rebranded and elevated is super important.”

He said he’s kept a close eye on how Porsche and Aston Martin have built their motorsports businesses and said Ford will be better.

“We’re going in the exact same direction. We just want to be better than them, that’s all,” Farley said. “Second is the first loser.”

Farley, an avid amateur racer himself, did not travel to Le Mans for the announcement. The race that begins Saturday features an entry from NASCAR, and Ford is the reigning Cup Series champion with Joey Logano and Team Penske.

The NASCAR “Garage 56” entry is a collaboration between Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear, and is being widely celebrated throughout the industry. Farley did feel left out of the party in France – a sentiment NASCAR tried to avoid by inviting many of its partners to attend the race so that it wouldn’t seem like a Chevrolet-only celebration.

“They’re going right and I’m going left – that NASCAR thing is a one-year deal, right? It’s Garage 56 and they can have their NASCAR party, but that’s a one-year party,” Farley said. “We won Le Mans outright four times, we won in the GT class, and we’re coming back with Mustang and it’s not a one-year deal.

“So they can get all excited about Garage 56. I almost see that as a marketing exercise for NASCAR, but for me, that’s a science project,” Farley continued. “I don’t live in a world of science projects. I live in the world of building a vital company that everyone is excited about. To do that, we’re not going to do a Garage 56 – I’ve got to beat Porsche and Aston Martin and Ferrari year after year after year.”

Ford’s announcement comes on the heels of General Motors changing its GT3 strategy next season and ending its factory Corvette program. GM, which unlike Ford competes in the IMSA Grand Touring Prototype division (with its Cadillac brand), will shift fully to a customer model for Corvettes in 2024 (with some factory support in the IMSA GTD Pro category).