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Dearborn, Mich. — Last week, it was that ol’, good-lookin’ ’68 Cougar, this week, it was an early ’60s Falcon. Those two classic Ford sightings, plus the first robin of the year, the start of baseball season and an early April snow dumpin’ means that spring really is right around the corner.
Now, that Falcon wasn’t movin’, it was parked, but it was still lookin’ sharp. It seems that 90 percent of the Falcons that the Spark sees these days are red, but this one was blue. And, it was the first Falcon that the Sparkster has seen in a long, long time that was a four-door. The paint job was sharp, the chrome was a-shinin’ ...
Like Ol’ Sparky said, it was sharp.
As good as the new models are, the Sparkster likes the old metal—particularly the Cougars and Falcons. And a mid-’60s Fairlane or Galaxie 500 ain’t too bad either.
After a couple of uneventful weekends at short tracks, the Ford racers this past weekend got back to a track where they could go a little faster—which meant “toward the front” —visiting the super-fast Texas Motor Speedway.
Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth and David Ragan all ran at or near the front for most of the afternoon—but all experienced a problem or another that cost each of them a shot at a victory.
Ragan’s No. 6 Fusion got some debris stuck to its grill, which led to an over-heated engine—and a too-early exit. Kenseth had a problem with a pit stop, and both Biffle and Edwards had issues with lug nuts.
Kenseth, though, earlier in the race weekend had talked about the difference between results and performance, and sometimes those two things are exclusive. You know, sometimes you run well and just don’t get the finish you deserve, and sometimes you don’t run so well. As far as Kenseth was concerned, a fifth-place finish at Texas after runnin’ near the front all day—and especially after not doin’ all-too-good in the six races followin’ his back-to-back season-openin’ wins at Daytona and California—was a good day. In fact, he called it, “a great day.”
It’s days like Sunday why Ol’ Steady Matty is always in the Chase at the end of the year. And, by “always,” the Sparkster means always. Kenseth is one of just two drivers to race his way into the Chase each and every year it has been around.
Edwards was certainly disappointed by his finish, but he handled it with all the professionalism that was possible. In other words, he was very supportive of his pit crew, unlike another driver in the series in recent weeks.
Edwards, too, handled well questions that were posed earlier durin’ the race weekend about him bein’ winless so far in 2009. The line of questioning, basically, centered on Carl bein’ winless this year and not as effective as he was in ’08. As Carl quickly pointed out, he had only gone six races since his last victory, everything was fine, and there was nothin’ to be concerned about. And, let the Sparkster add that not only had it been a mere six races since Carl’s last victory, but he had won three of the series’ previous 10 races—even with his 0-for-6 start this year.
Apparently, the world’s expectations are just a little bit higher for Carl now.
Anyway, Biffle, too, was supportive of his crew. For at least the second time this year, Biffle had the fastest car on the track, but didn’t win—but, there’s that Kenseth theory again that performance and results are sometimes exclusive. Many times durin’ the course of Sunday’s race, Biffle was runnin’ the fastest lap times, but, in the end, he finished third, instead of first. Afterward, he was quick to point out that at California he also was runnin’ extremely fast but did not win—because he stopped on an air hose durin’ a pit stop.
So, as Edwards and Biffle explained, the teams—owners, crew chiefs, engineers, crew members—are in this together. And, as far as the Sparkster is concerned, that is why auto racin’ is a great team sport.
TEARIN’ UP THE DESERT
The NASCAR schedule will take its second break of the season this weekend, but The Biff will still be drivin’ fast ahead of next weekend’s race in Phoenix. You see, The Biff is goin’ to take a new Ford F-150 SVT Raptor R next week in the Best in the Desert Terrible’s 250 at Primm in Nevada. He will participate in the event’s practice runs on Thursday, and Ol’ Sparky expects The Biff to show up in Phoenix with a whole bunch of stories to tell about runnin’ that off-road Raptor.
Now, if you don’t know, The Biff loves trucks—absolutely loves ’em. His favorite is a Ford F-150 SVT Lightning. And, don’t forget, he won a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship back in 2000.
The NHRA, too, will be idle this weekend. Followin’ back-to-back Ford Funny Car wins by Bob Tasca III in Gainesville and Ashley Force Hood in Houston, Robert Hight reached the semifinals to lead the Fords in Las Vegas last weekend. By the way, has the Sparkster ever mentioned that Hight will probably win a championship some day—perhaps as early as this year?
Ashley, who followed up her second career victory by qualifyin’ No. 4 at Vegas, lost in the first round by just eight-thousandths of a second. Still, Ashley is third in the points standings. Tasca is sixth, Hight is eighth, John Force is ninth, Mike Neff is 10th and Tim Wilkerson, in a Ford this year after competin’ for the championship last year, is 12th.
While wonderin’ where all the Fairlanes and Galaxie 500s have gone, Ol’ Sparky went through this week’s mailbag.
I would think the 21 car should get a young driver to develop for the future. I love Bill, but he has no drive in him anymore. The new car requires a driver who can handle a very loooose race car.
Anthony L.
Well, Anthony, this very question came up last Friday durin’ the “15 Minutes with Ford Racing” Twitter chat with Eddie Wood, and Eddie was very emphatic that the Wood Brothers right now are not interested in puttin’ anybody else in the seat of that famed 21, and that the ride is Bill’s for as long as he wants. The Sparkster would also strongly suggest that Awesome Bill is the perfect driver for that car. The 21 is operatin’ as a single team and is not runnin’ a full schedule, so it’s to the team’s advantage to have a driver that can give the best possible feedback at all times. And, since Bill has been to all of the tracks, and has won a ton of races, and a championship and has tutored young drivers, that would seem to make him the best of all possible choices. And, oh, yeah: don’t for a minute think that Elliott has no drive in him anymore. The opposite is true. After everything he has accomplished in his career, he does not need to be out there merely cuttin’ laps. He’s out there because he wants to be out there.
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