Ford's 200th win

[BlueDjinn]

Ford celebrated their 200th win in T/F Funny Car via Mike Neff at the Route 66 Nationals in Chicago.
On the NHRA site itself it mentions that this is the 200th win for "a Ford".
Paul Page for NHRA spoke of Mike Neff being born in 1966, just one year before Ford started winning
in Funny Car (Tommy Grove, Bristol, 1967).

Well, I have a problem with the way things are worded and the math doesn't add up.

It would seem that Ford want to have their cake and eat it too.
For example; the fastest a Ford engined AA/FC car ever went was 236.22 mph @ 6.54, driven by Larry Gould
at New York National Speedway in 1975, thirty-six years ago.

The part I have to really make note of is that at that particular time the body on the car was a 1971 style
Dodge Charger. Yes, a Dodge Charger.

Now the Ford faithful had no problem at all referring to that car as "a Ford" on the fact that it was powered by
a Ford 427 SOHC; an engine that is now legendary for being a one-pass-wonder on nitromethane.

Given their precedents it shouldn't seem a little odd then that if the powerplant itself distinguishes the "marque"
regardless of the bodystyle then the "Mustang" bodied Funny Car is in fact a MOPAR and has been for many years.

Even Larry Gould himself threw in the towel on the Ford engine and switched to the HEMI in 1988.

It really is very simple. If a Dodge bodied Funny Car is a win for Ford when running a Ford engine then
a Mustang bodied Funny Car is a win for Chrysler when running a MOPAR engine.

As I recall, I think Ford won anywhere from 4 to maybe 6 events running their own engine in T/F
and that's going back over 40 years ago.
As all of Ford's "wins" since were powered by MOPAR HEMI's (and still are), they're anywhere from 194 to 196
races short of the 200 they're claiming.

Really, this should never have been allowed to get this far.

Ford never has and still don't know how to design much of an engine, and the engine that they're producing for
nitro Funny Car has the core architecture and unmistakeable characteristics of the MOPAR HEMI, because
that's exactly what it is.

I'm not letting NHRA off the hook either.
Someone at NHRA is knee deep in this crap and needs to swing for it.
Plagiarism, fraud, it's all there.

It's time someone from Chrysler (with a spine) lowered the boom on all of NHRA, Ford and Force's unmitigated crap
and tell them under no uncertain terms, "game over, see you in court".
The lies, the deceit, the poseurs, the bullsh!t; time to pay.

I remember the first time I ever saw a HEMI in a Mustang I anticipated this crap and here we are.

In final round Top Fuel Funny car at the Route 66 Nationals a Mustang bodied MOPAR raced and beat a Toyota
bodied MOPAR.
The winner, MOPAR. No Ford's.

[392heminut]

You'll get no argument from me, I've been saying the same thing for years, even back when I was still a Chevy fan!

[moparornocar]

Very well put BlueD, and I totally agree, but it's the same old song, different verse. This is the way it is and I've said it before. NHRA would loose zillions without the Ford fan and the Force bunch is the only thing to attract the Ford fan; as has been forever Ford is nowhere in any class or any form of racing for that matter where the products engineered and built by Ford are mandated by the rules.
I have said it before and say it again "IGNORANCE" is the engine that drives Ford.
I'm still looking for some person to name ONE item that Ford ever thought out, engineered, designed and built that improved the performance, comfort, safety or ease of operation of the engine and automobile.

[George]

NASCAR has nonproduction bodys with nonproduction engines with Ford, Dodge, Chevy or Toyota written on them that has nothing to do with any of those companys whose name is written on them. Drag racing is the same, except they seem to be Chr or Chevy "pattern" resembalence, but no real connection to real cars like in the 50s & 60s.

[BlueDjinn]

NASCAR huh? Okay, I'll go there just to make the comparison.
There are four engines in NASCAR. None of them have stock counterparts.
They are not a succession of any factory production engine.
These engines must adhere to certain guidelines; bore spacing, deck height, bore size, stroke,
valve size, port diameter, chamber size etc., but each has it's own design in meeting that criteria.
I found it particularly interesting when Ford commented that their "new engine is the first engine the company has EVER designed that was NOT based on a production engine".
Who's production engine are they talking about? Theirs? Somebody elses?
The Boss 500 doesn't sound so "clean sheet" now does it; that's because it isn't.

There is only ONE Top Fuel engine in the NHRA.
It "is" based on a production engine.
Its core architecture is exclusive to the 1964 A864 Chrysler factory race Hemi.
Regardless of who is producing the blocks or the heads the engine must conform to the NHRA
regulation architecture or it's not eligible for competition.
As the Ford T/F engine practically duplicates and conforms to the pre-existing architecture of the NHRA regulation engine, Ford "are" producing a Mopar Hemi, or they wouldn't be allowed to run it.

Now the part I really like is that the engines themselves are telling anyone that knows how to listen just exactly what they are.
All engines have their own recognizable "signature" sound that distinguishes them.
The sounds all engines make are of their specific design.

An FE series Ford "does not" sound like a 385 series Ford.
A 335 series Ford "does not" sound like a Ford flathead and no Ford sounds like a Mopar.
A big block Chevy sounds like...a big block Chevy.

I don't have to turn around and look to know that a Harley-Davidson has just passed by.
Not only that, but I know if it was a Pan Head, a Knuckle, a Shovel or an Evo.
They all sound different from each other and different from anything else.
A Cummins diesel does not sound like a Caterpillar. Neither one sounds like a Mack and a 2-stroke Detroit Diesel is unmistakable.

The next time a clearly marked Mopar (Jack Beckman, Ron Capps, Matt Hagan, Brian Thiel) pulls
alongside any Mustang bodied Funny Car pay attention to the harmonics; the sound.
It's so obvious that everybody misses it; they "all" sound exactly the same!
They all sound like Hemis(R) because they are.
These engines announce to everyone that knows what they're hearing that they are in fact Mopar style Hemis(R) and there is no other engine that sounds like a Top Fuel Hemi(R)
There is no disguising it, or mistaking it for anything else.
The sound a Top Fuel Mopar Hemi(R) makes is as distinctive as its architecture and it "does not" and "never will" owe anything of what it is to Ford.

[moparornocar]

Speaking of "sound" and sound is a very important aspect of engine performance; does anyone recall what I always called the Ford "blubber" which as I recall was back when the infamous Y-Block V-8s were built which I always thought of as a decent tractor engine. But anyhow they had a unique blubbering sound if reved up and especially with twin pipes and open mufflers.
Ford never had a decent performance engine until they copied the '55 SBC engine.