MORE FLOPPERS IN THE MUSTANG HERD?
Force had an exclusive on the Mustang body style in the nitro Funny Car division for nearly a decade but after comments made in a Ford teleconference yesterday afternoon that exclusivity might be a thing of the past.
Bob Tasca III was the first team owner to transcend that exclusivity by debuting a Shelby Cobra version of the nitro Funny Car body in 2008. The rookie team owner expanded his team to include Tim Wilkerson, previously a GM frontrunner.
There was a time when John Force was the long Mustang driver in the NHRA Funny Car field.
Force had an exclusive on the Mustang body style in the nitro Funny Car division for nearly a decade but after comments made in a Ford teleconference yesterday afternoon that exclusivity might be a thing of the past.
Bob Tasca III was the first team owner to transcend that exclusivity by debuting a Shelby Cobra version of the nitro Funny Car body in 2008. The rookie team owner expanded his team to include Tim Wilkerson, previously a GM frontrunner.
Six teams run two different stickered versions of the Mustangs presently and according to Tasca, that number could expand in the near future to enable Ford to maximize its efforts.
“Well, obviously, John has four Mustangs, and obviously for years that was pretty much how it was,” Tasca said. “When our program came down the pike, John could only have four, the NHRA doesn’t allow any more. I think it’s a great thing, at the end of the day teams go out and look for sponsors and not all of them are manufacturers, some of them are Brand X, they want to run a Ford, then they can run a Ford.
“There have been other Mustangs before John, but he kind of had the market cornered with Ford for a while for no particular reason. I know John is thrilled to have more cars out there. At the end of the day the more Mustangs out there, the more chances, and more exposure out there for Ford Motor Company.”
Sources have told CompetitionPlus.com that Ford will debut a new generation Mustang late in the summer of 2009.
