The Beach Blog

New 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup Car

The 2013 Ford Fusion NASCAR Sprint Cup car, unveiled yesterday as part of the Charlotte Motor Speedway Media Tour, was worked on by Ford designers in an effort to bring brand identity back to the sport. The result is undeniable with the 2013 Sprint Cup car mirroring the recently unveiled 2013 Ford Fusion production car.

Featuring a completely redesigned sleek new silhouette and fresh face, the 2013 Fusion Sprint Cup car was designed to be the face of a new era of stock car racing.

”We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return ‘stock car’ to NASCAR.” stated Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “I think fans, when they see the car, are just going to smile and cheer. It is going to reengage them with the sport and make the sport better because there is just something natural about seeing race cars that look like cars in their driveways.”

This marks the third time Ford simultaneously launched production and NASCAR versions of a new model. The first dual launch came in 1968, with the sleek fastback Ford Torino. Legendary NASCAR driver David Pearson drove the Torino to back-to-back NASCAR championships in 1968 and 1969. The second time came in 2006, when the then newly introduced Ford Fusion appeared in showrooms and on the track.

The new NASCAR Fusion entries will be tested throughout the 2012 campaign in preparation for their racing debut at the 2013 Daytona 500 in February.

Source: Ford

The 2012 Ford Focus Serves as Pace Car for NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

The all-new 2012 Ford Focus, which delivers an EPA-certified 40 miles per gallon on the highway, served yesterday as pace car at the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

While NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers had to pit five or six times during the 400-mile race, the 2012 Focus, with its outstanding fuel economy, could go race distance and more, pushing 497 miles (or 248 laps at Michigan International Speedway) before needing to pit.

Mark Fields, Ford’s president of The Americas, was behind the wheel Sunday as the “celebrity” pace car driver.

“Bringing the 43-car field to the green flag will be an honor, but the real highlight of my day will be showing millions of race fans at MIS and across the country how much fun the new Focus is to drive,” Fields said before the race. “Focus delivers on high-speed ovals, challenging, twisty roads and everything in between. This car – built right here in Michigan – is built for people who love to drive.”

Focus is Ford’s most significant global car with more than 10 million units sold since being launched in 1998.

“When I saw the new Focus, I couldn’t believe it,” said Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne. “I think this car is going to appeal to a lot of young people like myself because it offers the latest technology and has that sporty look many of us want when we go shopping for a car.”

Ford hopes consumers nationwide share Bayne’s reaction.

“Just like last year when we unveiled Fiesta as the Michigan pace car, we’re using this race as a platform to promote another one of our fun-to-drive, fuel-efficient vehicles,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “Focus is a fantastic car that has captured the imagination of consumers everywhere, and we hope our fans are going to like what they see when it hits the track on Sunday.”

Ford has been at the forefront of using its NASCAR pace car program to highlight its extensive line of new cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles. This includes being the first company to have Hybrid pace the start of a NASCAR race when the Fusion Hybrid led the field to green for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2009. In addition, the Mustang GT 5.0L V-8 and all-new 2011 Explorer SUV have served as pace vehicles within the last year.

Stop by Beach Ford in Virginia Beach or Suffolk to take the NASCAR pace car for a test drive of your own.

Source: Ford

Tom Barton Talks NASCAR

Dear Beach Ford Family,

“If you keep running, you’ll get something.” — Richard Petty

There is something so simple, yet true in the King of NASCAR’s wise words. Sure, we all get the racing meaning, but also the broader life-lesson meaning of perseverance and tenacity. The Ford NASCAR teams have come to know all about this in recent years, as they have struggled to get back into the winner’s circle in this most popular brand of car racing. That is, until just recently. At this year’s kick-off to the 2011 NASCAR season, the boys racing Fords put on a show! Yes, I am talking Daytona 500 and Ford went 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at this hallowed racing track. Trevor Bayne, Carl Edwards, and David Gilliland finished in that very order and restored hope and enthusiasm to the Ford faithful – what a race!

At Ford, racing has been a part of the DNA since the very beginning. In 1901, Henry Ford defeated Alexander Winton in a 10-lap race at the Detroit Driving Club at Grosse Point, Michigan which helped Mr. Ford make a name for himself and his machine and allowed him to line up investors who would assist him in starting the Ford Motor Company in 1903. Since then, racing for the Ford Motor Company has served as a way to apply lessons gained from the race track and infuse them into the products that we love to drive. I think this directly translates into an almost tangible connection that we and our customers have about the cars, especially the fast cars, that we grew up with. Talk with an older person about a 1932 Ford V-8 “flathead” engine and watch them light up. People my parents’ age still get a gleam in their eye when talking about the 1964-69 Mustangs they drove when they were young. Falcons, Galaxies, Gran Torinos, Thunderbirds, all get most talking about horsepower, super-charged engines, and the long ago youthful albeit, slightly illegal, teenage drag race.

At Beach Ford, this spirit is still here. Only now we have Mustangs that have 302 horsepower and get 30 mpg highway – with 6 cylinder engines, for goodness sake! Oh, and we still sell the blood-pumping V-8’s too! Much like Ford, Beach Ford understands the gasoline-in-the-veins allure and romance that fast cars have always had. And we are lucky to have our NASCAR drivers, back and winning races! We invite all of you, our Beach Ford family to come by and talk horsepower with us. Maybe even a little racing! Heck, we’ll start up a Shelby GT 500 Mustang and then we’ll all feel better, I know I will.

Thank you for being a part of the Beach Ford Family,

Tom Barton

2011 Ford Mustang GT Named Daytona 500 Pace Car

For the first time in 40 years, a Ford will serve as the pace car for the NASCAR season-opening Daytona 500. The 2011 Mustang GT will start the race on Feb. 14 at the Daytona International Speedway.

“Having the opportunity to pace America’s biggest auto race with a Ford icon like the 2011 Mustang GT is truly an honor,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford North America Motorsports. “And to have the new 5.0-liter engine powering the car will be a great way to demonstrate its power and class-leading fuel economy.”

The 2011 Mustang GT circling the track will be a Race Red glass roof coupe with an all-new 5.0-liter V-8 engine capable of producing 412 horsepower, while delivering an impressive 25 mpg on the highway.

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