Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

3 months ago in either Flat Out or Sprint Car and Midget magazine, a lengthy 3 to 4 page interview with Donny Schatz.  The one questions most fans would have liked to heard was obviously, "how's the Ford motor program coming along"?  Not a word about it.  This month, actually last month as they are my uncles mags and get them 2nd hand, long interview with crew chief Ricky Warner, Same thing, not a word asked about the Ford motor program, the one question we'd like to hear about.  What the hell?  Labeled Top Secret, For Your Eyes Only?  I mean if you've been running back and forth across the country for two years with a car which tells the public they are using a Ford engine, and they ain't using a Ford engine,same old tried and true Shaver Chevy as they've always had, but this deception is going on long enuf.  Ford Performance on the wing, Large Ford blue oval on each side of the hood and Ford on both sides of the top wing and on the inside of the top wing.  Can't get anymore exact than that.  If it said, Oak Grove Ford or Johnson Ford, a sponsorship deal with a Ford dealer, that's one thing, but to actually claim you are using a Ford motor.  Should be embarrassing as hell to a lot of insiders.  And the date for the Ford motor  keeps getting pushed back. Are they waiting for the WoO to establish a spec engine and we know where those spec engines that series are running around the country are coming from:  GM.  Like the Rush series or Racesaver type series or one of the other dozens of local series running spec engines, but with the WoO would need to be a bigger engine, say 700 to 750 HP.  Something like the ARCA stock care series spec engine which is a GM LS crate engine.  

Go young guns!

Schatz made mention in his interview after winning last night that they were running something experimental last weekend but went back to the normal stuff for this week...not sure what that was in reference to.

I was wondering about that too.... doubt if it was Ford tho, people would notice

My guess is the Ford program is going nowhere fast & they don't want to talk about it....

Hard to say what it was, and you're right, the Ford thing is going nowhere fast......and I'm not surprised by that. If I were in that position I sure as hell wouldn't make a change until I'm sure I could do so without skipping a beat. There not talking about it kind of runs along those same lines. When it's right, if it's right, and they start running a "Ford" engine, they are going to want everybody else talking about it. The #15 team will do their talking where they always have.....on the race track!

You're putting way too much emphasis on what some stickers actually mean.  Those stickers just say "Ford," not "powered by Ford."  As in, "Ford gives us money to put these logos on our car for advertising purposes."  TSR has not claimed that they are CURRENTLY using a Ford engine, only that they are developing one for future use.  There is no lying or deception in what they are doing.  Any deception that anyone perceives is caused by their own interpretation of what the stickers mean.

Why's this so important to you, anyway?

Signature here.

No deception at all....Every time this subject comes up I giggle.  Doesn't say powered by Ford, just that they are sponsored by them.  Obviously Ford has no issue otherwise they wouldn't be writing checks.  A few weeks ago at the NOSA show in Aberdeen Nygaard and another car had Ford stickers o  their hoods and didn't have evenly spaced exhaust ports and never once did I feel I was decieved.

Smoke ( ie Tony Stewart ) will tell you that just because there are blue ovals on that engine cover does not mean that there is a blue oval engine under there. He will tell you it is just like any other sponsorship for any of his cars. It is all about the green pictures of dead presidents.

It's no worse than the Red Bull Formula One Team using a Renault engine that's branded as a TAG Heurer while being sponsored by Aston Martin.

Ask Frank

You guys all say no deception but we are hardcore spint car fans. We have some knowledge of engine designs and can usually notice the difference between Ford and Chevy heads and headers from a distance. I have people I work with or have met with randomly who are much more casual sprint car fans. They come up to me (Knowing Im always up for a good sprint car discussion) and say, "I see Donny is kicking butt in that Ford powered sprint car!" 

..... FACEPALM ....

I will politely explain it is simply advertising at this point, its still a chevy, sam old same old, and say they are working on the Ford motor. They ask when it is coming. I give a a suspected time frame usually but more recently have just been under the impression its a long ways out or it simply isn't coming. We really don't know. To say no deception is kind of a half truth. To us no way. To others absolutely.

I truly see your point. Sometimes we forget we are "diehards".  Same issue I sometimes have in my profession when we are at winter training meetings for the company I have worked for for 20 plus years.  I can be bored off my keester as many of the topics I've heard numerous times then I remind myself that there are rookies in the room and I was one many moons ago.  I still see absolutely no deception here, as obviously FORD, who is the one shelling out the greenbacks, obviously doesn't have an issue with the plant u der the hood for the time being and they are ok, then we should just be happy that they are another bug time sponsor in our sport we love.  I'm guessing it is also somehow tied I  with Smokes Cup program as well.  Either way, we will just have to live with explaining it to others and take it as an opportunity to bring more friends into the sprint car fold. 

Show me one, just one instance that they have actually ever claimed they are using a Ford engine.  That is all I ask.  Just one instance where anyone from TSR has actually claimed this.  After your search comes up completely empty, why not take the time to call someone at TSR and actually ask them what the prognosis is?  I don't see any deception going on at all.  Anyway, get back to me as soon as you find that one instance that anyone from that orginization claimed they are running a Ford power plant.

Show me one piece on Donny's or anybodys engine that has any Chevy parts ie:heads, block, crank, rods, pistons. We could go on but unless you're talking 305's these, 410's today are a sprint car engines. Donny said he was testing a new car last night after Attica.

For whatever reason Ford or Mopar haven't been able to make very much inroads in sprint car racing. I know that it's probably not much of a focus or concern for them, although mopar tried a few years back. Still, there's practically nothing in a 410 or 360 sprint car motor is stock anyhow so kit doesn't seem like the "brand" would matter much. There are plenty of successful Ford motors in other forms of dirt track racing so I don't know why an engine builder wouldn't be able to develop a good Ford 410 sprint motor if they were so inclined.

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It is plastered right over the engine bay location though, so it has to be a Ford right? Yes any deception is through our interpretation. Though they have never claimed to have a Ford many still make the false interpretation that hey, it says Ford, it must be a Ford. Its certainly not that important to me just kind of odd. Makes for some interesting speculations and discussions though which I thoroughly enjoy. So please by all means everyone keep telling your side of these consiparcy theories. 

Last  I heard Ford would be ready in July.  This came from someone that should know.  Yes, it is July.  The Ford style head is not legal with WOO.  They had to design a new head.  So the Ford head may look more like a chevy head, so who knows if it has been tried out.

Evenly spaced header ports could also be a mopar.

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Ayyyyyy we have an F1 fan. I thought I was the only one. If you're a big F1 fan I'd suggest going to COTA in the fall. It is AWESOME to see it person. Cheers.

TAG Heurer is a sponsor.  It’s a wrist watch company.    But agree that nobody is trying to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes with the Ford stickers.  Thanks to Ford for sponsoring a sprint car.  Don’t see Any other manufacturer other that TRD stepping up in Open Wheel Dirt.

Mopar headers look like Chevrolet on the W9 and W9-RP heads used on Mopar 410’s.   Had two of them in the day and bought many sets of headers.  The Chevy don’t fit, the flanges are different, but center two exhaust are next to each other on Mopar too.