NHRA: Alan Johnson, Brittany Force’s crew chief/team join Mike Salinas’ squad for 2019

By Jan 11, 2019, 1:51 PM EST
NHRA
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It may be premature to anoint Mike Salinas as the 2019 Top Fuel champion, but he’ll certainly have a lot of championship-winning help to get him there.

Entering just his second full-time season in NHRA Top Fuel competition, the 57-year-old San Jose, California native will have noted engine tuner and 16-time championship team owner, crew chief and consultant Alan Johnson serving as a consultant and tuner in 2019.

But that’s not all.

Also joining Salinas’ Scrappers Racing team will be crew chief Brian Husen, who served as crew chief for Brittany Force the past two seasons.

With Husen working alongside Johnson, the duo led Force to win the 2017 NHRA Top Fuel championship, but Force slipped to a fifth-place showing in 2018.

Husen and Johnson also collaborated on leading Shawn Langdon to the 2013 Top Fuel title, as well as Del Worsham’s Top Fuel crown in 2011.

“We’ve worked together for 15 years now,” Husen said of his relationship with Johnson to Fox Sports. “Throughout that, I’ve learned a lot and Alan has taught me pretty much everything I know. So, we both go into the day and runs with the same mindset with a common goal. It works pretty well.”

Husen is also bringing several members of his crew from the John Force Racing camp along with him into the Salinas fold.

“They decided to take a different direction at JFR, which I understand,” Husen told Fox Sports. “They have to make the decisions that they make, and so the opportunity became available with Mike Salinas to come over here and work.

“I started talking to Mike and seeing the direction that he wanted to go, a lot of the guys from Brittany’s force team showed interest, so we knew we had a good group of people. The best case for us was to stick together and try to build on what we had. … It’s not that normal low-key winter for us. We have our plate full with work we’ve got to do.”

NHRA Top Fuel driver Mike Salinas. (Photo: NHRA)

Bringing Johnson and Husen onboard is a huge step up for Salinas and his Scrappers Racing team. To date, he’s yet to win a race in Top Fuel and has only reached one final round in 31 races over 1 1/3 seasons (7 in 2017, 24 in 2018) on the NHRA national event circuit.

“Mike’s a great driver and we have the championship team from Brittany’s team and we have all the right parts,” Husen told Fox Sports. “It’s just going to come down to decision making on Alan’s and my part, Mike doing a good job driving and these doing the great job they’ve always done.”

In his first full season in Top Fuel in 2018, Salinas qualified for the six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs and finished the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season tied for seventh in the points standings with veteran driver Doug Kalitta.

It’s believed that much of the crew from Funny Car driver and Brittany’s sister, Courtney Force’s team will move to Brittany’s team, while several members of an unnamed Top Fuel team are reportedly headed to join Courtney Force’s team.

However, a JFR source told NBC Sports Friday afternoon, “I can’t confirm anything about our team lineup yet but I will say those rumors are not quite correct and we still have some things moving around.”

NOTES: Steve Torrence, who Alan Johnson also worked as a consultant for in the 2017 season, laying the groundwork for Torrence’s 2018 Top Fuel championship, will have company on the drag strip more frequently in 2019. His father, Billy, who won his first career NHRA race at Brainerd, Minnesota last August, is expected to run in between 12 and 14 NHRA national events in 2019.

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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
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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).