Motorsports Brands - Storied Legacy Of Ford Customer Service Division Brands Lives Through Tasca, Bayne

DENVER, July 21, 2011 – The desire to carry on a legacy, to make one’s chapter in a long history the best one, is a powerful motivator. Especially when the connection between the two is organic, and especially in American motorsports.

The chapter being written now for the iconic Ford Customer Service Division (FCSD) brands Motorcraft, Quick Lane and FordParts.com is in the hands of two very different drivers. One a rookie, one a legacy in the true sense of the word.

FCSD and its associated brands have raced to the winner’s circle for generations in a story that stretches back decades, to the early days of NHRA Pro Stock world champion Bob Glidden, now a crew chief, Mark Oswald and Kenny Bernstein, a team owner, and NASCAR champions Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett and Geoff Bodine. Not including Scott Pruett, Lyn St. James, Bruce Jenner and Wally Dallenbach Jr.

Plenty of stories have been written about the beginnings that pushed each of them to their own success – that Glidden worked on his first engine, his father’s tractor, out of necessity, for instance. He found he was good at it - really good, and his skills would prove to translate to NHRA Drag Racing in a big way. Elliott’s father was a race car owner before he became a Ford dealer and got his sons into race cars because he knew they would want to drive fast and “wanted them to do it in the right place.” Bill showed talent early, and he’s still in the business too.

Now the book opens to the current chapter and two drivers who really couldn’t be more different.

Bob Tasca III, a true Ford legacy, and rookie Trevor Bayne, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookie whose win at the Daytona 500 and humble, good nature made him an instant sensation.

Tasca, driver of the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Funny Car in the NHRA Full Throttle Series, will compete in the Mile-High NHRA Nationals July 22-24, 2011 at picturesque Bandimere Speedway in Denver, Colo. At every race in the NHRA Full Throttle Series, he competes knowing he does so for a brand he grew up seeing in his family’s Ford dealership and parts department.

“I was born and raised in a Ford dealership, so not only is it a privilege to carry on the amazing tradition Motorcraft has had in the sport, but also to represent brands that have been such a part of my life from my earliest days that I can remember,” said Tasca, who operates his own Quick Lane Tire and Auto Centers and Ford Parts center with his family dealership, Tasca Ford. “I remember walking through the parts department and seeing the red boxes and the blue boxes, and asking my dad why they were in different colored boxes. I probably was six or seven years old at that time. The blue boxes are the OEM (original manufactured equipment), the red boxes are the Motorcraft. It really is a special opportunity for Motorcraft and Tasca to come together.”

Tasca is especially excited to represent the newest generation of a motorsports family Glidden was involved in creating.

“Some of my fondest memories in drag racing are of Bob Glidden and what he did with Motorcraft,” Tasca said. “To carry on a tradition that was started by one of my biggest heroes in the sport, Bob Glidden, I'm just honored. How he conducted himself with the fans and how he ran his program and his determination to win. So many qualities that I admire. And to be able to represent a brand that he put on the map in drag racing, and to be able to continue that history in the sport of NHRA drag racing, and I’m certainly very humbled.

“My goal is to build on that rich history that he started. We’re very early in my career and we have high expectations on what we can continue to deliver for Motorcraft that was started by such a legend in the sport.”

In the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, team owners Len and Eddie Wood are carrying on the tradition that their family began years ago, behind the efforts of Glen, the team’s first driver, and Leonard Wood. The No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford entry is beloved by diehard and even casual fans, devotion built over the years and fueled by the genuine nature of the family and driver themselves.

Glen Wood, Len and Eddie’s father and founder of the family’s dynasty, was inducted into the 2012 Class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C. this year. They hope Leonard isn’t far behind. On the track, the Ford Customer Service Division and the drivers that carry its colors continue to write history, the Wood Brothers in their 11th straight season with FCSD.

“It’s been a great relationship over the years,” Len Wood said. “One that will hopefully stretch into the future. It feels like a family car to us. We’re very proud to carry the Ford logos on our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion. We’re quite pleased to have FCSD and Ford Motor Company behind us like that.”