1979 Ford F150 Lariat Super Cab V8 460cc Big Block Engine With Rack on 2040-cars

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Ford pulls official support from top-level NHRA teams

As the smallest team in the sport, it wasn't really a surprise when Dodge decided to pull out of NASCAR, but Autoweek is reporting that Ford is looking to pull the plug on its professional-level NHRA sponsorships following the 2014 season. With attendance and television ratings down, the article reports that Ford is just backing out of the top series but will remain active in the Sportsman classes of racing, which are geared more toward the grassroots and semi-professional racers.
This means that one of drag racing's biggest names, John Force, will be left looking for new sponsorship after next season. Force, 64, has been with Ford for 17 years, winning 15 championships in that time and winning almost half of all Funny Car events in his Mustang since he started working with Ford in 1997, but after 2014, there could be some big shakeups at John Force Racing.
According to the report, Force would consider is moving over to the Top Fuel dragster series, although he could also move to another manufacturer to remain in the Funny Car series. With Ford on the way out, this leaves just Toyota and Dodge as the remaining active automakers in the highest levels of drag racing.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 has a bit of a dyno issue

We're of the mind that each and every dyno should come with Murphy's Law painted in big, visible letters down the side. For every ten successful dyno runs out there, it seems there's one where events to horribly wrong. Take, for example, the video below. The clip shows what happens when a Ford Shelby GT500 and a mobile dyno have a bit of a disagreement at the Performance Expo 24 in Sherbrooke, Quebec. We won't spoil the results for you, but we will say there's some substantial carnage involved.
It's unclear just how much damage ensues from the dust up or whether anyone was harmed in the incident, but from the looks of things, everyone made it out without serious injury. If only we could say the same for the machines involved. Check out the video below.

MotorWeek remembers pre-EcoBoost Ford with the Thunderbird TurboCoupe

Sometimes it feels great to embrace nostalgia for a trip down memory lane, and MotorWeek indulges that occasional desire with its regular Retro Review series. This time, the long-lived show goes back to the '80s to check out two of the top performance vehicles in the Ford lineup at the time – the 1987 Thunderbird TurboCoupe and Mustang GT. Both models had just received thorough refreshes after several years on the market. Long before an EcoBoost badge ever met its models, Ford made early forays into experimenting with turbocharging on vehicles like the T-Bird TurboCoupe. Based on MotorWeek's assessment, the company was on the right track. The boosted 2.3-liter four-cylinder was apparently a bit coarse but offered 190 horsepower with little turbo lag, compared to 155 hp the year before. The Mustang GT is likely the more-fondly remembered of these performance Fords today and provides an interesting point of comparison against the TurboCoupe. MotorWeek found some faults with the 'Stang, though. While it was quick for the time with a sprint to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, the 'car was described as "a nose-heavy beast" for its handling. And for a look at Ford's future in turbocharging – the GT will have an EcoBoost powerplant – check out our Related Video: