A CEO Goes Pro
The day Ford boss Jim Farley got behind the wheel at Daytona International Speedway--and went to work.
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida--Jim Farley isn't used to being an also-ran, and he's not accustomed to doing big things with little fanfare.
But the Ford Motor Company CEO experienced both on a recent Saturday afternoon--and judging from his initial reaction, he couldn't have been more satisfied.
Farley made his professional motor racing debut on January 21, driving a Ford Mustang GT4 fielded by Multimatic Motorsports in the inaugural IMSA VP SportsCar Challenge at Daytona International Speedway.
The new series gives rising professional drivers—Silver and Bronze-category ones, at least—a chance to experience mixed-class sports car racing that is the staple of IMSA's top series. But unlike at the top level, the 45-minute VP Challenge races do not include pit stops or driver changes, making them perfect for participants to focus on the task at hand: going faster than everyone else in their class.
Farley is no stranger to going fast in race cars. He’s an accomplished historical racer, having picked up the sport before he joined Ford in 2007. He’s run up front in some of the sport’s biggest historical races, including at Le Mans.
But those events, while competitive, are still a notch or three below IMSA events, where wheel-to-wheel racing for position and occasional contact with top-tier sports car drivers isn’t just expected—it’s guaranteed. As Farley recently shared with Road & Track, his historical-racing bona fides are as established as they are going to get, but he wants more.
What better way to start than running Ford’s latest IMSA-eligible GT model in the organization’s newest GT-eligible series?
After qualifying 13th in the all-GT GSX class and 22nd overall, he got right to work once the green flag waved. By the end of lap eight, he was ninth--and climbing--among the 15 GSX entries
On his next trip around the 3.56-mile, 12-turn Daytona road course, Farley moved into eighth--and into a spot that would soon become quite familiar: one position behind the yellow and blue No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 driven by Francis Selldorff.
Soon, the 60-year-old Ford boss had his Mustang's grill on the BMW's bumper. From there, Farley spent the race's remaining 12 minutes working to get around Selldorff.
The pair exchanged a few bumps on the track's flat, twisting infield section. Farley pulled his Mustang alongside Selldorff’s BMW several times, even putting the nose of his Ford out front once or twice. But each time, Selldorff held the preferred inside line into the next corner, forcing the Mustang to settle in behind the BMW’s rear bumper.
The fight continued into the pair's final lap, ending only when Farley spun in Turn Six, where the course’s twisting infield portion sweeps up and into "NASCAR Turn One," the first turn on the iconic high-banked tri-oval known best for staging the Daytona 500.
The end-of-race slip left Farley 12th in the final standings, but it's didn't ruin his day.
"Man, that was fun!" Farley said as he climbed out of the Mustang.
The small gathering waiting for him in the No. 98 garage didn't include any reporters or TV cameras. It was just Multimatic Motorsports team members, some close confidants, and--maintaining a respectable distance--a few fans. (IMSA events offer spectators unparalleled access to the competitors, with often little more than a portable stanchion between onlookers and the teams' work areas.)
The VP Challenge's opening weekend featured a second 45-minute race the following day. Farley started 11th in the GSX class and 20th overall but found himself running 13th in class—dead last—within a few laps. He soon found his groove, however, working his way up to 10th in class, just behind the No. 95 BMW, lodged in its own battle with another BMW, Sean Quinlan in the Stephen Cameron Racing No. 19.
Farley could not slip by Selldorff, but both got around Quinlan. Three other retirements and an incident-free last few minutes lifted Farley to a seventh-place finish.
Even a cursory look back at the inaugural VP SportsCar Challenge weekend will, appropriately, show two drivers stood above their peers. Dan Goldburg, driving the No. 73 JDC Motorsports LMP3, won both races outright, while Billy Griffin twice steered the No. 14 Kohr Motorsports Mustang GT4 home as the top GSX finisher.
As for Ford's top executive?
Despite the low-key approach, he made quite an impression. He showed he fits right in not just at high-stakes sports car races, but in them.