Is Ford behind? If so, why?

Is Ford behind?

  • Yes

    Votes: 11 61.1%

  • No

    Votes: 7 38.9%
  • Total voters
    18
As far as Fender's question about Roush being an asset to Ford..I think Ford thinks so, but I bet they were glad to have Penske. I had high hopes at the start of the season for the Penske's and it was looking pretty good for a while with the switch, because I am not a Jack fan at all. But neither Penske made the chase on their own, and neither did as well as the Roush regulars, and they should have beaten all of them IMO. so now I am not liking either Penske's or Roush's program. I do hope Penske gets better with the car, he has the drivers, young good and hungry.
 
People talk about the toll this sport takes on the drivers all the time but can you imagine the stress levels of a top multi team owner like Jack, it must be enormous, especially on a man in his sixties or seventy's. It's got to take a person of a certain personality type to do it. And yes this is about Jack Roush and FORDS.
 
BamaFan said:
Ok , I'll ask if anyone can explain in general terms( easy for non-mechanics to understand) the big difference in the engines from make to make.
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I don't see were there can be that much difference nascar makes sure of that. fuel and air in exhaust out.
 
3wideinturn1 said:
I brought this up in another thread but does anyone think Penske could supplant Roush as the premier Ford team?

I feel like bringing in Penske was great for Ford as a brand. Maybe the execs up at Ford realize that Roger might be the way to bring the blue oval back to the promise land. We all know about Jack's long standing relationship but Roger has just as many business connections and IMO has the superior race team.
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I think that's a good possibility. I know no one wants to hear it but I really think if you take out wrecks and a couple parts failures... Joey has been the top Ford this year. That paired with a champion and Roger Penske's business sense, I don't see it taking long for that to happen. I could see Roush Fenway Penske Motors or some sort of combination of those within a couple years.
 
Compacted Graphite Iron is fascinating stuff. They manipulate the Graphite molecules trapped inside the Iron molecules to actually form a hook that reaches out and grabs on to the next Iron molecule. Surprisingly, it was created in the 40's but was too expensive to mill until now.
 
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Seems as though Chevy and Toyota have been more successful at encouraging co-operation between teams within the brand, at least more so than Ford has. Perhaps Jack wanted no part if that, but at this stage he has no other choice.
 
FenderBumper said:
Compacted Graphite Iron is fascinating stuff. They manipulate the Graphite molecules trapped inside the Iron molecules to actually form a hook that reaches out and grabs on to the next Iron molecule. Surprisingly, it was created in the 40's but was too expensive until now.
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Huh? I'm lost --- which is nothing unusual.
 
StandOnIt said:
As far as Fender's question about Roush being an asset to Ford..I think Ford thinks so, but I bet they were glad to have Penske. I had high hopes at the start of the season for the Penske's and it was looking pretty good for a while with the switch, because I am not a Jack fan at all. But neither Penske made the chase on their own, and neither did as well as the Roush regulars, and they should have beaten all of them IMO. so now I am not liking either Penske's or Roush's program. I do hope Penske gets better with the car, he has the drivers, young good and hungry.
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roush Yates cost Kez his chase spot in the top 10, and they seem to have cost Logano any chance of finishing high in the standings. Interestingly, JJ was saying the Penske cars were a real threat before this first race.
 
FenderBumper said:
roush Yates cost Kez his chase spot in the top 10, and they seem to have cost Logano any chance of finishing high in the standings. Interestingly, JJ was saying the Penske cars were a real threat before this first race.
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Im gona have to hold on to the fact that Joey has made up 50+ points twice already this year... although I have a feeling if he does mount some sort of charge he'll still come up just short... pretty much hoping for top 5 now... at least hes still ahead of mr popular Dale Jr lol
 
FenderBumper said:
roush Yates cost Kez his chase spot in the top 10, and they seem to have cost Logano any chance of finishing high in the standings. Interestingly, JJ was saying the Penske cars were a real threat before this first race.
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makes a difference when you can run all year without blowing one up and be fast besides. Takes some doing, but they ran two teams all year without one failure. I didn't think they would have a problem with that this year.o_O
 
SlicedBread22 said:
Im gona have to hold on to the fact that Joey has made up 50+ points twice already this year... although I have a feeling if he does mount some sort of charge he'll still come up just short... pretty much hoping for top 5 now... at least hes still ahead of mr popular Dale Jr lol
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He made up 50+ points on first or 10th? Big difference.
 
StandOnIt said:
makes a difference when you can run all year without blowing one up and be fast besides. Takes some doing, but they ran two teams all year without one failure. I didn't think they would have a problem with that this year.o_O
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I said when I heard the deal I hope Roger put a clear out of the Roush / Yates engine program if they falter. I hope he did, and exercise an option to build his own engines again.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
Well it was on 10th but I know that in that final run up until Richmond they had made 20 more points over 6 races than Kahne who had earned the 2nd most in that time... hang on Im gona figure that out u got me curious.
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It's hard to do with the points reset.
 
FenderBumper said:
I said when I heard the deal I hope Roger put a clear out of the Roush / Yates engine program if they falter. I hope he did, and exercise an option to build his own engines again.
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Yeah to me I didn't make sense, he had the infrastructure in place, he had the people, he really didn't need Jack for anything. If anything I would have liked to see a rival Ford engine package, or take the RYFR9 and let the Penske guys modify it and put there own spin on it.

I'm basing this on nothing more than my own opinion but I tend to think that Penske has some of the brightest minds working for him in the entire garage. Due to the unique opportunity he can provide, being involved in open wheel and NASCAR and the private sector as well. Working for Roger would be very attractive because his company can provide so many career opportunities.
 
Roush's problem, this year, is his drivers. He's got two drivers in the Chase who are perfectly content with finishing second in races.

I think this is why Kyle has the edge. He's going to go all out trying to win races and he'll run wide open right on the edge and he'll probably knock off five wins.

Logano will be a factor but I don't think he has it in him, this year, to win the championship. Kyle, Jimmie, Kenseth, Harvick and Joey are probably the five drivers who will contend for the title. Four of those drivers are NASCAR champions who have been in this scenario more than once in their careers. Just being up there with those drivers, who are some of the best drivers in recent NASCAR history, will be an accomplishment for Joey Logano that he should be proud of.
 
FenderBumper said:
He made up 50+ points on first or 10th? Big difference.
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SlicedBread22 said:
Well it was on 10th but I know that in that final run up until Richmond they had made 20 more points over 6 races than Kahne who had earned the 2nd most in that time... hang on Im gona figure that out u got me curious.
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From the coke 600 to Atlanta Joey made up 51 points on JJ... from after finishing 40th twice at Daytona and Loudon until after Atlanta alone he made up 101 points on JJ. You can check if you want...

After Charlotte JJ had 445 and Joey had 298 - 147

after Loudon JJ had 696 Joey had 487 - 209

after Atlanta JJ had 837 Joey had 729 - 108


Im glad u made me curious... that's a damn good stat right there!
 
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3wideinturn1 said:
Yeah to me I didn't make sense, he had the infrastructure in place, he had the people, he really didn't need Jack for anything. If anything I would have liked to see a rival Ford engine package, or take the RYFR9 and let the Penske guys modify it and put there own spin on it.

I'm basing this on nothing more than my own opinion but I tend to think that Penske has some of the brightest minds working for him in the entire garage. Due to the unique opportunity he can provide, being involved in open wheel and NASCAR and the private sector as well. Working for Roger would be very attractive because his company can provide so many career opportunities.
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Roger is a billionaire who pumps his own money into the program. He funded Kez's first year, and now signed JP without a sponsor.

Jack and Yates were a big part of designing some of the specs for the FR9, and got control over it's production as a result. Jacks engineering firm also does work for Ford.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
From the coke 600 to Atlanta Joey made up 51 points on JJ... from after finishing 40th twice at Daytona and Loudon until after Atlanta alone he made up 101 points on JJ. You can check if you want...

After Charlotte JJ had 445 and Joey had 298

after Loudon JJ had 696 Joey had 487

after Atlanta JJ had 837 Joey had 729
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JJ went in the crapper for the past month but Joey certainly caught fire at the right time, can't take that away from him.
 
SlicedBread22 said:
From the coke 600 to Atlanta Joey made up 51 points on JJ... from after finishing 40th twice at Daytona and Loudon until after Atlanta alone he made up 101 points on JJ. You can check if you want...

After Charlotte JJ had 445 and Joey had 298

after Loudon JJ had 696 Joey had 487

after Atlanta JJ had 837 Joey had 729
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Wow, that's impressive. He said he and the team aren't giving up, so you never know when the favorites will stumble. He will have to start winning races to get it done.
 
FenderBumper said:
Roger is a billionaire who pumps his own money into the program. He funded Kez's first year, and now signed JP without a sponsor.

Jack and Yates were a big part of designing some of the specs for the FR9, and got control over it's production as a result. Jacks engineering firm also does work for Ford.
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Savvy investment right there.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Roush's problem, this year, is his drivers. He's got two drivers in the Chase who are perfectly content with finishing second in races.

I think this is why Kyle has the edge. He's going to go all out trying to win races and he'll run wide open right on the edge and he'll probably knock off five wins.

Logano will be a factor but I don't think he has it in him, this year, to win the championship. Kyle, Jimmie, Kenseth, Harvick and Joey are probably the five drivers who will contend for the title. Four of those drivers are NASCAR champions who have been in this scenario more than once in their careers. Just being up there with those drivers, who are some of the best drivers in recent NASCAR history, will be an accomplishment for Joey Logano that he should be proud of.
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Give Jeff Gordon another race or two before you count him out, he passed more cars than anybody and had the best lap time for over half of the laps after the rain break. If Loudon is a normal race we should know who is who by then.
 
StandOnIt said:
This is a pretty good article, I remember Roger on the podium at the end of the year thanking Ralph Gillies from SRT giving him engines that didn't have a single failure. So i think anyway it was SRT doing the heavy work rather than Penske.
http://espn.go.com/racing/nascar/story/_/id/8579811/dodge-motorsports-hopeful-quick-return-nascar
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Complementing the manufacturer on the engines is part of the deal, just as blaming some part supplier for failures is part of the deal.

Roger spent millions on a top shelf engine department with the best equipment money could buy. Dodge/Fiat/Maserati did deliver redesigned 10,000 RPM heads in 2011.
 
AndyMarquisLive said:
Roush's problem, this year, is his drivers. He's got two drivers in the Chase who are perfectly content with finishing second in races.

I think this is why Kyle has the edge. He's going to go all out trying to win races and he'll run wide open right on the edge and he'll probably knock off five wins.

Logano will be a factor but I don't think he has it in him, this year, to win the championship. Kyle, Jimmie, Kenseth, Harvick and Joey are probably the five drivers who will contend for the title. Four of those drivers are NASCAR champions who have been in this scenario more than once in their careers. Just being up there with those drivers, who are some of the best drivers in recent NASCAR history, will be an accomplishment for Joey Logano that he should be proud of.
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IMO Coming to a new team and simply making the chase... let alone having the best season of his career (so far) in ever category except top 10's.. he needs 1 more win and one more pole to best his records hes already tied.. beat his best top 5s and is only 2 or 3 from his best top 10s... already most laps lead in a season..... is quite an accomplishment... let alone what it would mean to be able to finish in the top 5.
 
Johali said:
Give Jeff Gordon another race or two before you count him out, he passed more cars than anybody and had the best lap time for over half of the laps after the rain break. If Loudon is a normal race we should know who is who by then.
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Im not sure what to think about Loudon... never got to see how Joey would run there... I can bet they'll start with a bit higher air pressures than last time though. ;)
 
Fords are 5th 11th and 12th. It doesn't look good for any of them at this point
FenderBumper said:
Complementing the manufacturer on the engines is part of the deal, just as blaming some part supplier for failures is part of the deal.

Roger spent millions on a top shelf engine department with the best equipment money could buy. Dodge/Fiat/Maserati did deliver redesigned 10,000 RPM heads in 2011.
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In the article Ralph says "we" a lot. i don't know if he meant Penske or his SRT engineers

"The minute the deal was cut [with Ford], Roger [Penske] and I shook hands and said we're going to do everything in our power to win this series," he said. "Our guys, they all committed to me. We fought fuel-injection issues. We fought fuel economy issues. We had block cooling problems.

"Our guys never let up and they won't until [the finale at] Homestead."
 
StandOnIt said:
Fords are 5th 11th and 12th. It doesn't look good for any of them at this point

In the article Ralph says "we" a lot. i don't know if he meant Penske or his SRT engineers

"The minute the deal was cut [with Ford], Roger [Penske] and I shook hands and said we're going to do everything in our power to win this series," he said. "Our guys, they all committed to me. We fought fuel-injection issues. We fought fuel economy issues. We had block cooling problems.

"Our guys never let up and they won't until [the finale at] Homestead."
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Yes, the manufacturer offers engineering help, but Penske did in fact build their own engines. He had more than 40 people in his engine department, and got Yates to hire a few as part of the deal.
 
Johali said:
Give Jeff Gordon another race or two before you count him out, he passed more cars than anybody and had the best lap time for over half of the laps after the rain break. If Loudon is a normal race we should know who is who by then.
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The winner of the Chicago race has gone on to win the championship every time since Chicago became the first race in the Chase. I'm sure Kenseth likes that stat. I don't think this will be a JJ runaway though.
 
FenderBumper said:
Compacted Graphite Iron is fascinating stuff. They manipulate the Graphite molecules trapped inside the Iron molecules to actually form a hook that reaches out and grabs on to the next Iron molecule. Surprisingly, it was created in the 40's but was too expensive to mill until now.
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Is that Si-ence?:)
 
SlicedBread22 said:
IMO Coming to a new team and simply making the chase... let alone having the best season of his career (so far) in ever category except top 10's.. he needs 1 more win and one more pole to best his records hes already tied.. beat his best top 5s and is only 2 or 3 from his best top 10s... already most laps lead in a season..... is quite an accomplishment... let alone what it would mean to be able to finish in the top 5.
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I personally think a lot of it was Joey. He came out this year with a chip on his shoulder. After hyping him up, the media was now writing him off. He morphed in to a Honey Badger at California and it was a thing of beauty. You get on my nerves sometimes but this has been the breakout year Logano's been destined for.

Actually, you don't get on my nerves. You're a good fisherman. I like that.
 
FenderBumper said:
No, but I should have. It's exactly the way I saw it. Giving up the #1 engine dept in nascar to buy engines from the #3 or #4 engine dept. Once he loses the people, which he will, he's stuck with what he gets.

Get out now Roger. Pay Jack off and build your own.
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you would think he still has a shop, running Chevy's in Indy car. ford might have offered him a good deal or something..turned out not so good.
 
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