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. |
 We think that Vic Williams' Mustang used a 596 c.i. Gene Fulton-built engine on the "bottle." It ran 7.23/194 in qualifying. |
There were some other notable cars and engine combinations that made up the 16-car field. Canadian racer Joe DaSilva's 417 cubic inch, forced induction small block ran a very credible 222.44, which was good for Top Speed of the meet. Another unusual car was David Schorr's brand new, one-of-a kind, 815-ci EFI equipped Escort ZX2 from the Kansas City, Missouri area ran a best ever 6.73 lap in qualifying. There was also a Mustang powered by a Gene Fulton-built, 598-inch, nitrous-injected wedge motor.
Eliminations found professional drivers Samuel and Berner maintain their performance edge on the rest of the field and eventually meet in the final round. Samuel and his turboed small block spanked Berner and his mountain motored 'Stang in that final round. Samuel cut a light on Berner with a .079 to Burner's .170 and then drove away tripping the beams with a 6.457 to Burner's dead game 6.498.
PRO STREET (OUTLAW)
This is a true "Super Street" class where a max tire width of only 10.5 inches is allowed. The wider "10.5-W" tire isn't allowed at this race. So, at the WFC you have cars approaching or exceeding 3,000 lbs with gobs of power and relatively narrow tires. That means qualifying features big wheelstands and tire-spinning, guardrail-to-guardrail action. This is a real spectator entertaining class.
Billy Laskowsky's Cobra used a supercharged, fuel-injected
400-inch engine combination. He ran a 7.81 to qualify No. 10 in the "Ten-wide"
class.
In past years at the WFC this class was dominated by Bill Glidden and his nitrous oxide-injected small block Mustang. This year different names appeared at the top of the qualifying list and on the winners check. The hot set-up apparently was either turbocharged or supercharged fuel-injected small blocks in 3100-lb cars.
Texan Travis Franklin had both the Low E.T. (7.45) and Top Speed (191.59) for the class with his supercharged engine combo, but broke during Saturday's qualifying and couldn't answer the call on Sunday. That left the second and third qualifiers, Dan Millen and Jim Blair, who had forced induction power plants and Bill Glidden's 2750-lb, nitrous oxide-injected, 414-inch small block-powered 'Stang to battle for the title and the money.
Glidden struggled to get his Mustang to perform and qualified seventh with a 7.74/181, but he apparently had solved his problems when he opened eliminations with a stout 7.552/186 win over David Hance. That performance by Glidden was good, but No. 2 qualifier Millen served notice with a 7.48 opening round thrashing of first alternate, Christian Helms.
Possibly the biggest upset of the WFC came in the third round when Glidden staged up with No. 3 qualifier Jim Blair. Blair proceeded to trailer Glidden when he treed him with a .089 r.t. to Glidden's less than spectacular .137. Blair's 7.613/186.18 was good enough to hold off Glidden's quicker but losing 7.574/186, setting up a final round between the number two and three qualifiers.
Based on his performance alone Millen looked to have the edge in the final against Jim Blair, but driver reaction time determined the winner, not horsepower. Millen's .067 light left Blair in the beams when he only mustered a .108 reaction time. Millen's 7.827 e.t. barely held off Blair's quicker but losing 7.824 and gave Millen the win by just .038 of a second.
DRAG RADIAL CLASS
The Drag Radial class requires drivers with absolutely no fear! Cars in this treaded-tire class weigh in between 2900 and 3300 lbs, stock suspension is mandatory, but any engine power-adder is allowed. This class adheres to the roots of "Pro Street." These cars are "street legal" in the loosest of terms, a little dangerous, and the drivers fearless.
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New Jersey's Dwayne "Big Daddy" Gutridge, who qualified No. 1 with an 8.297, and Neptune, Nova Scotia's Bob McDonald ran an 8.875 for the number two spot. Distaff driver Christine Eldert got her 308-inch small block Mustang into the eight-second zone during the first round of eliminations with a stout 8.87.
"Big Daddy" lived up to the reputation of his namesake from Seffner, Florida by not only qualifying on the pole but setting Top Speed for the class at 177.37 and Low E.T. at 8.180. He then beat No. 2 qualifier Bob "Big Mac" McDonald in the finals to run the table.
If there was an indicator of how these cars weren't hooking up it had to be the reaction times. The average reaction time going into the final round was an unbelievable .267 and that included "Big Daddy's .085 reaction time in the final. Nevertheless, 8.18/177 on treaded tires in a 3000-lb car! Whooee, are you kiddin' me?
DIESEL CHALLENGE
In a race full of outrageously fast sedans it was really cool to see diesel-powered pickups that would run in the eleven-second zone. In fact, the WFC is probably the only organized drag race on a "national event" level that has a class with diesel fuel-burning pickup trucks.
There were 19 trucks in an all-run class with only one of the entrants breaking the twelve-second barrier. Number one qualifier David Lott from Cypress, Texas drove his F-250 to an 11.94 in qualifying and then, in a losing effort, a stellar 11.74 with a top speed of 115.31. Most of the quickest of the trucks ran high 13 second and low 14-second elapsed times. Those are very quick times for any street car and extremely quick for a diesel-burning pickup. (I'll bet there are some guys with 'Vettes in those truckers' hometowns that are in a state of denial after a stoplight race with one of those trucks.)
Unfortunately for Lott, the truck class was a bracket affair and his .459 light to his opponent Johnny Lightning's (yeah sure, that's his real name) .199 doomed his 11.74 breakout to failure. Interestingly, Lott's .459 light wasn't his worst. He had an 11.016 reaction time on a bye run. Lightening went on to win the class when the New Providence, PA trucker ran 16.011 on a 16.01 dial to get the class win over Willie Figuerog's F-350 truck that recorded a 14.47 on a 14.53 dial.
 Evidently these guys don't know that Ford has their share of import cars in their line. |
David Schorr heats the tires in his unique Ford Escort
ZX2 with an EFI 815- inch mountain motor under the hood! Saaay, isn't an Escort
technically an import or does it just look like one?
CONCLUSION
This race may be open to Fords only but that doesn't affect its attraction
for spectators. It combines all of the elements of traditional heads-up, Pro
Street racing with some entertaining unique classes like the showroom stock
classes and the diesel trucks, and even offers classes for bracket racers. It
is one of the very few races (Carl Weisinger's World Street Nationals at Orlando,
FL being the other) where fast doorslammer fans can see blower vs. nitrous vs.
turbo-powered cars compete in a heads up race. That fact alone makes this race
a must attend. Where else on the planet can you see eleven-second diesel fuel-burning
trucks bracket race and six-second door cars at the same event? 
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