Ford gets serious

[Racecraft]

I was talking to a friend today that knows Brett Stevens, apparently he is selling off both his JD RAcing Doorslammers. His wifes Corvette and his Studebaker are going to make way for a new sponsorship deal with Ford... For the '05/'06 season he will be running two BA bodied Doorslammers....

Direct competition for the Brays' and there deal with Holden....

Seems the big players have seen the marketing advantages of drag racing atlast, and their respective teams will go head to head ala V8 Supercars..

Should make the sport EVEN BIGGER

He also mentioned that it wasn't a secret and that it was mentioned on TV but I hadn't heard anything so if anyone could confirm this, that would be great.

[MRJUCY]

I heard that Fabietti let the secret out during an interview. great news if it's true & great to see that Ford is finally putting some money into the sport

[Xtreme F6]

Originally Posted by Racecraft

I was talking to a friend today that knows Brett Stevens, apparently he is selling off both his JD RAcing Doorslammers. His wifes Corvette and his Studebaker are going to make way for a new sponsorship deal with Ford... For the '05/'06 season he will be running two BA bodied Doorslammers....

Direct competition for the Brays' and there deal with Holden....

Seems the big players have seen the marketing advantages of drag racing atlast, and their respective teams will go head to head ala V8 Supercars..

Should make the sport EVEN BIGGER

He also mentioned that it wasn't a secret and that it was mentioned on TV but I hadn't heard anything so if anyone could confirm this, that would be great.

This has been common knowledge for like.. 2 months???

[strife]

is it ford or a dealer ?

the sell off definately isnt a secret, just check the ads in the drag mags

[Chris]

Rock on!!

[Bossxr8]

He mentioned it on Speed Week last weekend. He's signed a deal with Ford to run 2 BA's.

[Racecraft]

sweet then, anyone got any more info, Is he importing cars from the US and shelling them with BA bodies or is he starting from scratch and building two completely new cars?
Will his new cars be covered in the JD livery? Or has JD become a minor sponsor and FOrd will have most of the on car exposure?

This is a huge win for drag racing! The traditional Aussie rivalry

Any more info Bossxr8 on what he actually said?

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Racecraft

sweet then, anyone got any more info, Is he importing cars from the US and shelling them with BA bodies or is he starting from scratch and building two completely new cars?
Will his new cars be covered in the JD livery? Or has JD become a minor sponsor and FOrd will have most of the on car exposure?

This is a huge win for drag racing! The traditional Aussie rivalry

Any more info Bossxr8 on what he actually said?

He basically said he was getting 2 new cars, and the deal was to rival the Brays Holden deal, so it seems Ford would be the main sponsor and would most likely run JD as well.

[marcuss]

I would think he is building the cars himself as quite a few doorslammers have already come out of his workshop.
Its a bittersweet deal for me as its good to have ford involved in drag racing but unfortunately there will not be one part on the car with a ford part number. I would like to see ford help one of the pro stock guys like Xeriakis or Grima rather than top doorslammer. At least they run ford engines. But at the end of the day doorslammer is THE class at the moment so thats where the bulk of the dollars will go.

[rodderz]

Great to see the sport becoming a higher profile once again. Over the coming year it will only get better, Calder is being upgraded and the Vic top fuel guys are preparing cars again

[strife]

he also said he is doing a new funny car because the current one is a couple hunderd pounds overwieght

[SpoolMan]

Originally Posted by rodderz

Great to see the sport becoming a higher profile once again. Over the coming year it will only get better, Calder is being upgraded and the Vic top fuel guys are preparing cars again

Yes the whisper is that Calder Park has a $400,000 grant from the Vic Government, and they will have the 05/06 Nationals there. How good is that... :baby bott

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by XRFPV8

Yes the whisper is that Calder Park has a $400,000 grant from the Vic Government, and they will have the 05/06 Nationals there. How good is that... :baby bott

Bloody oath it is.....

It's not a bad idea for the govt to tip in $$....promote legal off street racing instead of the hoons out everywhere. Pity it's quite a drive for the eastern people but spose it's better than nothing

I remember Calder was always packed about 10-12 yrs ago when they always had the nationals...cost was cheap and there were literally 100's of cars to watch all day/night. There were even jet boats and mud races on the infield on the odd occasion too. Will be great to see it back to it's former glory and see some more quality motor racing

[marcuss]

Originally Posted by XRFPV8

Yes the whisper is that Calder Park has a $400,000 grant from the Vic Government, and they will have the 05/06 Nationals there. How good is that... :baby bott

I have been told off for bagging calder here before so we will see how long this post lasts. Personally i hope that calder does not get the nationals because they have done NOTHING in recent years to assist championship drag racing in victoria and in my view do not deserve it. They skimmed the cream off the top when the going was good but bailed when it got too hard. Now that WSID is running and drag racing needs the melbourne and adelaide pieces to be put in place, up pops calder and wants a slice of the pie. Yeah I know they run street meets and if you are a member here you get a few bucks off at the gate but think of the guy who has 100k tied up in his race car and has to drive 9 hours to race it.

Just the opinion of a lifelong drag racing fan and soon to be racer.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by marcuss

I have been told off for bagging calder here before so we will see how long this post lasts. Personally i hope that calder does not get the nationals because they have done NOTHING in recent years to assist championship drag racing in victoria and in my view do not deserve it. They skimmed the cream off the top when the going was good but bailed when it got too hard. Now that WSID is running and drag racing needs the melbourne and adelaide pieces to be put in place, up pops calder and wants a slice of the pie. Yeah I know they run street meets and if you are a member here you get a few bucks off at the gate but think of the guy who has 100k tied up in his race car and has to drive 9 hours to race it.

Just the opinion of a lifelong drag racing fan and soon to be racer.

You can be like that Marcuss, im not taking a shot at you, but you need to concentrate on the positives. The group 2 team Im involved in were shattered when we heard the news about calder, but we took it in our stride, worked hard, towed around the country and won 2 back to back national championships.

If you can afford to spend 100k on a car, you can afford to tow it to the winters, etc.

We turned a negative into a positive, and haven't looked back. You can leave your car in the shed, I wanna race.

Ford wont go pro stock.

[rodderz]

I see the point by both Marcuss and Chris...on one hand Calder was thriving 15 yrs ago, all of a sudden someone alledgedly got greedy and everyone got sick of it and said they wouldnt come back. Some packed up their cars or sold them, some like Chris's guys kept racing around the country.

It's taken a while for the guys who packed up to get set up again but obviously they are keen to race, and Calder is an existing track. Probably cheaper to upgrade it (as what is currently happening) than fork out for a new facility which was bandied about a while back. The mention of a nationals return to Calder Park Raceway would no doubt cause a lot of hype and interest amongst a lot of people, considering top fuellers, doorslammers etc havent been here in years. ANDRA would also no doubt be realising that such a return would be greatly beneficial to the sport too which is on the rise again. The marketing would have to be good to make it fully work though imo

Thats only my thoughts, Rod and a few others who either are or know those in the industry could elaborate further on the facts.

[marcuss]

Chris, I agree if you can afford 100k for a car you can afford to tow, but trying to get time off work for yourself and crew to race interstate is a tough call, especially 3,4, or 5 times a year. I will definitely be heading up the hume a few times a year and maybe a trip up the newell.

Rod, quite a few racers will not return to calder but the majority of group 1 teams will race there because they have sponsorship and are chasing points.
I have not been there for a few years and i'm not sure what upgrades have been made or are planned but they need to spend serious cash to get it anywhere near willowbank or wsid. The return road to the group 3 pits used to be a gravel goat track. The staging lanes were potholed. We used to love getting scrutineered in the white elephant thunderdome pit that was billiard table smooth and then towing back to the potholed drag pits. I went to willowbank for the first time a few years back and could not believe the quality of the facility. I will return because money spent there gets put back into the track, not into a fatcats pocket.
Victoria needs a track run by racers not businessmen, willowbank is a perfect model of what can be achieved.

Once again, just my opinion

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by marcuss

I have not been there for a few years and i'm not sure what upgrades have been made or are planned but they need to spend serious cash to get it anywhere near willowbank or wsid. The return road to the group 3 pits used to be a gravel goat track. The staging lanes were potholed. We used to love getting scrutineered in the white elephant thunderdome pit that was billiard table smooth and then towing back to the potholed drag pits. I went to willowbank for the first time a few years back and could not believe the quality of the facility. I will return because money spent there gets put back into the track, not into a fatcats pocket.
Victoria needs a track run by racers not businessmen, willowbank is a perfect model of what can be achieved.

Once again, just my opinion

You're right there mate...Calder Park is still in the condition that you described it as being last time you were there. There is a fair whack being spent there to upgrade it (1st being the new timing boards a few months back) but as to what extent i'm not sure. It's in need of a huge tidy up thats for sure