World Ford Challenge at Gateway Words and photos by Jeff Burk 6/14/04

he World Ford Challenge is one of those great "national event" races that offer a class for anyone who wants to race from heads-up Pro racers to the slowest bracket car and everything in between. The only caveat is that the racer must drive and race a Ford product. The World Ford Challenge this year offered the Blue Oval Brigade 17 different classes at this once-a-year event at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, IL, including 14 heads-up classes, three bracket classes and one class that featured eleven-second, diesel-powered pick-up trucks.

Intercooling was a common sight at the WFC. So was a computer to adjust the fuel map before each lap.

The World Ford Challenge is also the home of arguably the best heads-up, run-what-ya brung, doorslammer class in drag racing. The Pro Mod 5.0 class allows virtually any engine/power adder combination including but not limited to superchargers, turbochargers, nitrous oxide injection, EFI and combinations of all three and paid the winner $35,000 to win! The race also has a class for the traditional Super Street style cars which were restricted to an actual 10.5" wide tire, several treaded-tire classes that featured eight- and nine-second hitters and a class for "showroom stock" 'Stangs, some which ran in the nine-second zone.

If you like fast doorslammer racing, even though it was limited to Ford products, this event had plenty to offer for your entertainment.

PRO MOD 5.0

Pro Mod 5.0 is the baddest, fastest, most diverse class that this Ford-only fiesta offered. Despite a generous payout that included the winner getting $35,000 and the runner-up $15,000, only 16 cars representing 11 states and Canada made up the field. Some IHRA Pro Stock racers had talked about showing up but only a few made the trip including runner-up Pete Burner. The qualifiers used just about every variety of engine combination imaginable from 400-inch turbocharged and supercharged small blocks to 815-inch gas-burning IHRA legal Ford engines.

Engine builder/driver Chuck Samuel drove his 400-inch, twin-turbocharged, fuel-injected, small block-powered Mustang to the pole with a best of 6.422/219.47. The veteran "street legal" racer from Sycamore, Illinois and his Mustang made only one lap all weekend that wasn't quicker than a 6.50 e.t., and he converted that performance into a $35,000 payday.

Samuel was followed on the qualifying ladder by fellow Illinois racer and IHRA Pro Stock veteran Pete Berner, who shoed his 814 cubic inch, gas-burning, carbureted 2003 Mustang to a 6.476/212.39 qualifying lap but couldn't coax any more performance out of his mountain motor on race day. Berner lost in the final to Samuel's 6.457/217.95 when he could muster only a 6.498/214.18 lap.

Chuck Samuel launches his Pro Mod 5.0 Mustang on its way to another 6.40 pass. Wonder why he kept the scoop on the turbocharged car? "I needed a place to advertise the engine builder," Samuel told DRO.