Mike Ford (NASCAR)
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Morristown, Tennessee |
| Residence | MIA |
| Sport | |
| Country | United States |
| Sport | NASCAR Sprint Cup Series |
| Team | BK Racing |
Mike Ford (born about 1972) is an American NASCAR crew chief. Born in Morristown, Tennessee.
Early career
Ford's racing career began in the late 1980s when he worked at SABCO Racing under the direction of Gary Nelson, who now works as NASCAR's vice president of research and development. Ford’s duties included a little bit of everything, including suspension work and car set-up.
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Before joining Elliott’s team, Ford worked as a mechanic and jackman with Jarrett and Yates from 1996–99. During that time, Jarrett never finished lower than third in points, won the 1999 Winston Cup championship, the 1996 Daytona 500, and scored victories in the Brickyard 400 in 1996 and 1999. The team won a total of 18 races during the four-year period.
In 2000, he worked as crew chief in the last year of Elliott’s tenure as an owner/driver. From 2001–2003, Ford worked as crew chief for Bill Elliott at Evernham Motorsports and won four races, including the 2002 Brickyard 400.
Ford was crew chief for Dale Jarrett at Robert Yates Racing during the entire 2004 season and 11 races in 2005 season. Ford hired Russ Salerno as his Pit Crew Coach in 2004 to help with pit crew performance. Ford lead Jarrett to a victory in the 2004 Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.
Ford was hired as crew chief for Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 team in 2005. Mike worked with Denny full-time in 2006 winning the Budweiser shootout, and sweeping both races at Pocono. As crew Chief of the number 11 car Mike Ford won 17 races and had championship finishes of 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 9th, and 12th. Ford and Hamlin never missed the chase in the 6 years paired together. On Dec 6th, 2011 Joe Gibbs Racing released Ford. On April 30, 2012, he replaced Greg Erwin as crew chief for the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, driven by Aric Almirola, for the rest of the 2012 season.[1]
On September 10, 2012, Richard Petty Motorsports announced changes to its crew lineup. Ford became the new crew chief for the #9 Ford, driven by Marcos Ambrose, while Ambrose's crew chief, Todd Parrott, would become the new crew chief for the #43 Ford.[2]
On October 30, 2012, Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Ford was no longer with the organization and was replaced by Drew Blickensderfer at the #9 Ford.[3][4] In December 2012, Ford was hired to act as competition director for BK Racing.[5] In December 2012, Ford was hired to act as competition director for BK Racing.[6] He left BK Racing in Oct. 2014 to work with Athenian Motorsports through the majority of 2015.[7] Ford returned to a crew chief role for the 2016 Daytona 500 with BKR, working as Robert Richardson, Jr.'s crew chief.[8]
Personal life
Ford resides in Stanley, North Carolina with his wife, Robin, and their two children Alex and Austin.
References
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