The race cars of the Henry Ford Museum

From Old 999 to Indy, NASCAR and Le Mans winners, there’s something for every race fan

Gerry Malloy
Published: July 13, 2017, 8:35 AM
Updated: October 30, 2017, 4:20 PM

Racers of all kinds

From Ford's own ‘Old 999’ to Indy, NASCAR and Le Mans winners, there’s something that will appeal to every race fan or history buff in the Henry Ford Museum. ▲

Henry Ford

It’s not surprising that the museum that bears Henry Ford’s name features a multitude of race cars for his business was founded on his racing success – and racing has played a major role in the Ford Motor Company’s success through much of its existence. ▲

Le Mans winning 1967 Ford GT Mk IV

Arguably, the most famous race car on display is this 1967 Ford GT Mk IV, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1967 at the hands of A.J. Foyt and Dan Gurney. Ford took its first Le Mans win a year earlier, but this car represented the first win for an American car with American drivers. ▲

But back in the beginning…

Perhaps the most important car in the collection is ‘Old 999’ – one of two such cars built by Henry Ford in 1902. Former bicycle racer Barney Oldfield drove the monstrous car, with an 1156 cubic-inch (18.9-litre) four-cylinder engine, to victory in a match race in Detroit with Alexander Winton, then the most prominent automaker in the U.S.A. ▲

And the Ford Motor Company was born

That victory helped Henry Ford find financial backing to form the Ford Motor Company in 1903 – the second auto company to bear his name. The first ultimately became Cadillac after he parted ways with its financiers. Old 999 also launched Oldfield’s career which saw him become America’s most famous race driver for the next decade. ▲

Sprint car

It’s not just Ford race cars in the museum, which is more about the American way of life than the brand itself. This Chevy-powered sprint car, driven by Bobby Unser on short, dirt oval tracks back in the day, represents a uniquely American form of racing. ▲

Goldenrod

At the other end of the spectrum, making no turns at all, is the Summers Brothers Goldenrod, powered by four fuel-injected Chrysler engines, one behind the other. In 1965, on the Bonneville Salt Flats, it set a Wheel-Driven Land Speed Record of 409.277 mph (658.64 km/h), which wasn’t surpassed until 1991. ▲

Drag racers

Drag racing, too, is a uniquely American form of racing, represented here by a flathead Ford-powered slingshot dragster and a highly-modified Willys ‘gasser’. ▲

Trans-continental pioneer

In a race against time, rather than another car, this 1903 Packard Model F Runabout was the second automobile to travel across America coast-to-coast. Tom Fetch, Packard's plant foreman, and Marius C. Krarup, a journalist, made the trip from San Francisco to New York in 61 days, three days faster than the record set a month earlier in 1903 by Horatio Nelson Jackson in a Winton. ▲

1906 Locomobile ‘Old 16’

In 1908 George Robertson drove this 1906 Locomobile to victory in the Vanderbilt Cup, America's first great automobile race. It marked the first time an American car had won a major international road race. Built at a cost of $20,000 (at a time when a decent house could be had for $1,500, it is typical of pre-World War I race cars: a huge engine (990 cu. in.(16.2 litres)); mechanical brakes on the rear wheels and the transmission only; and minimal bodywork. A riding mechanic kept fuel and lubricating oil flowing and helped the driver change tires. ▲

Early Indy racer

While Ford is famous for its assault on Indy with Lotus in the 1960s, and its subsequent success as an engine supplier to the series, the Blue Oval brand previously fielded a fleet of racers in the 1935 Indianapolis 500. The project was organized by Preston Tucker (of later Tucker car fame) and veteran racer Harry Miller, but reliability issues, unrelated to their Ford engines, let them down. ▲

The Jimmy Clark Lotus

Perhaps the most valuable racer in the collection is the fully restored Lotus 38 driven to victory by Jimmy Clark in the 1965 Indianapolis 500. It was the first victory for both Ford and a rear-engined car in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, effectively spelling the death knell for the traditional front-engined Indy roadster. ▲

Ford-powered Indy cars

Ford went on to become one of the primary engine suppliers for Indy car racing for decades to come. This Ford-powered 1984 March, driven by Tom Sneva, was the pole-sitter for the 1984 Indianapolis 500. ▲

Kiekhaefer Chrysler 300B

By the mid 1950s, NASCAR was in its ascendancy and the stars of the show were Carl Kiekhaefer’s Chrysler 300Bs. In 1956 they won 22 out of 41 races, including 16 in a row. This was one of the cars Buck Baker drove on his way to becoming the NASCAR driving champion in 1956. Unlike modern NASCAR racers this is a real production car, modified for racing. ▲

1987 NASCAR Ford

Long-time Ford racer and 1988 NASCAR champion Bill Elliott drove this 1987 Ford Thunderbird ‘stock car’ to a then-record speed of 212.809 mph (342.483 km/h) at Talladega in 1987. ▲

Race cars of The Henry Ford Museum

This #21 Wood Brothers Ford Fusion, with Trevor Bayne at the wheel, won the Daytona 500 in 2011. It’s preserved and displayed just as it finished the race, with confetti still glued to it from the victory bath of now-dried Gatorade and Coca-Cola. ▲

Corvette C6.R

The newest race car on display is a Corvette C6.R, on loan from the General Motors Heritage Center. It’s representative of the bow-tie brand’s class multiple winners at Le Mans, as well as at the 12 Hours of Sebring and numerous other American Le Mans Series events. Many of those wins were earned by renowned Canadian driver Ron Fellows. ▲

2016 Ford GT

What’s missing from the museum’s collection is the current version of the Ford GT, which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2106 – 50 years after the marque’s first victory. That’s probably because it’s still racing. Expect it to show up there when its racing days are over. ▲

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