Kyle Larson narrowly defeats 16-year-old Ryan Timms in World of Outlaws Sprint Car Gold Cup prelim

By Sep 9, 2022, 10:00 PM EDT
Larson Timms Outlaws Sprint
Trent Gower / World of Outlaws
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The 30-year-old driver known as “Yung Money” in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car series had a much younger challenger Thursday in a preliminary feature for the Gold Cup at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, Calif. as Kyle Larson held off a charge by 16-year-old Ryan Timms.

Timms already became the youngest competitor when he finished second to Carson Macedo in late August, 21 days after his 16th birthday. That is the minimum age to compete in the Outlaws Sprint Car series. Timms was making only his second start in the series. On that night in West Fargo, N.D., he failed to lead any laps, but finishing ahead of championship leader Brad Sweet raised a few eyebrows.

Thursday night, he earned the attention of Larson.

“He is really, really good,” Larson said of Timms in a release. “I know most of these young kids nowadays can rip a cushion like that. I saw him on the front row of the lineup and figured he would be a tough guy to beat tonight. It was crazy coming through the pack. I think if he hit those restarts a little better it was his to win.

“I knew my only opportunity was going to come if Ryan didn’t get a great launch on the restart. I knew that I would have to slide across quicker that second time, and thankfully it stuck. This place was awesome tonight, it was treacherous. It made sliders really sketchy and you’d be off the throttle sliding across super-fast. It felt great when I hit it right, but it was tricky every single corner.”

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Timms led at Chico. In fact, he led more than half the race and had to retake the lead twice in the 30-lap affair on the quarter-mile dirt track. After losing the lead to Larson on Lap 14, he regained it on Lap 17 and seemed to be cruising to Victory Lane until a late caution bunched the field.

Similarities between the two drivers are not hard to find. Larson gained the moniker “Yung Money” when he burst onto the scene after running in regional series on the West Coast and it didn’t take long for him to challenge the established racers. But Larson’s rise was not quite as meteoric as Timms. Larson failed to advance to an A-Main in his first five starts and finished 24th in his inaugural race in 2008. Timms was ninth in his first race.

The second-place finish Thursday night locks Timms into Saturday’s $25,000-to-win finale. Should he win that race, he will be the youngest winner in series’ history.

“I really thought when he slid me and I got around him that it was my break,” Timms said on an earlier restart when he beat Larson. “It seemed like it was just better to be in second than first in some way tonight, so you could attack differently. It stings, but losing to him isn’t the worst thing in the world. It’s a lot better than I expected, really.”

Rounding out the podium was James McFadden. That result does not lock him into the finale, but it will provide him with a front row start in his heat race on Saturday.

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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).