FORD PERFORMANCE: NASCAR MIDWEEK NOTES
The 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season officially begins this weekend with the Daytona 500, which airs on FOX Sports at 1 p.m. Ford has won “The Great American Race” 13 times by 10 different drivers.
THE FIRST TIME…Ford won the Daytona 500 was on Feb. 24, 1963 when Tiny Lund took the Wood Brothers to Victory Lane and completed a script that would have made Hollywood envious. Lund didn’t have a ride for the 500, but was at the track watching Marvin Panch test a Maserati when the car went out of control, flipped upside-down and started on fire. Lund, along with four others, rushed to the scene and eventually pulled Panch out to safety. Panch, who was the primary driver for the Wood Brothers, was unable to race in the 500 due to his injuries, so the team tabbed Lund as a substitute. Lund defied the odds by winning the race on one set of tires to give Ford and the Wood Brothers their first win in “The Great American Race.”
THE LAST TIME…Ford won the Daytona 500 was Feb. 27, 2012 when Matt Kenseth won for the second time in three years. But while Kenseth will be remembered for becoming the ninth multiple winner, the weekend will forever be remembered for a series of unforeseen events. First, for the first time in its 54-year history the race had to be postponed until Monday due to rain. As lingering showers persisted the next day, NASCAR officials decided to make it a primetime event for the first time. The race was building to a climax when caution came out on lap 157. During the ensuing caution, something broke on Juan Pablo Montoya’s car and sent it careening into a jet dryer that was working on the track. An explosion ensued and resulted in a red flag that lasted more than two hours as officials repaired the track. There were no major injuries, but the incident resulted in one of the more memorable photos ever taken as driver Brad Keselowski used his cell phone to post a shot from his vantage point on the backstretch. Kenseth eventually held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Roush Fenway teammate Greg Biffle on a green-white-checker finish to win.
IN BETWEEN…Ford won the Daytona 500 a total of 11 times, giving it 13 all-time victories in the event. Highlighted in that stretch were wins by two members of this year’s NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction Class as Fred Lorenzen won in 1965 and Bill Elliott posted triumphs in 1985 and 1987. The father-son duo of Bobby Allison (1978) and Davey Allison (1992) also registered wins while Dale Jarrett won his second and third career 500’s with Ford in 1996 and 2000. The most memorable victory, however, most likely came in 2011 when Trevor Bayne became the youngest Daytona 500 winner after taking the checkered flag one day after his 20th birthday and in only his second career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start for the Wood Brothers.
FORD’S DAYTONA 500 WINNERS
1963 – Tiny Lund (Wood Brothers)
1965 – Fred Lorenzen (Holman-Moody)
1967 – Mario Andretti (Holman-Moody)
1969 – LeeRoy Yarbrough (Junior Johnson)
1978 – Bobby Allison (Bud Moore)
1985 – Bill Elliott (Harry Melling)
1987 – Bill Elliott (Harry Melling)
1992 – Davey Allison (Robert Yates)
1996 – Dale Jarrett (Robert Yates)
2000 – Dale Jarrett (Robert Yates)
2009 – Matt Kenseth (Jack Roush)
2011 – Trevor Bayne (Wood Brothers)
2012 – Matt Kenseth (Jack Roush)
