Actual Nascar Pace Car

Ford Focus Pace Car Will Start Tomorrow's Nascar Race

We’re accustomed to seeing Chevrolet Corvettes, Dodge Vipers and other powerful sports cars as pace vehicles in the Nascar Sprint Cup and other racing series. But this weekend racing fans will see something different as a 2012 Ford Focus economy car leads the pack.

The Focus will get its first shot at pace-car stardom at tomorrow’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, will drive the car. The company says the pace-car stint is part of its strategy to broaden the new car’s appeal beyond typical economy buyers and into the enthusiast-driver segment.

“Bringing the 43-car field to the green flag will be an honor, but the real highlight of my day will be showing millions of race fans at MIS and across the country how much fun the new Focus is to drive,” Fields said. The

Of course, against the current backdrop of expensive gasoline, the new car’s 40-mile-per-gallon fuel economy rating may be its strongest selling point. The 400-mile Michigan race helps Ford emphasize how easy the Focus is on fuel. While the Sprint Cup cars competing in the race will have to stop for fuel five or six times, the Focus could travel up to 497 miles on a tank of gas, Ford says.

Ford has a reputation for using Nascar’s pace-car program to introduce new vehicles. Its subcompact Fiesta paced this race last year and a Fusion Hybrid sedan led the field to the start of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2009. Ford’s Mustang GT 5.0 and redesigned 2011 Explorer SUV have also paced races in the past year.

It amazes me how simplistic people are to typecast sports fan in a certain group. I love NASCAR and I am not a dumb hick. All my life I have paid my taxes, and have worked ten to twelve hours a week for all my adult life, and I don’t eat only junk food. I am really amazed at how short-sighted our society has been with people who typecast people. And we, the American people, allow it to happen.

The Focus is a great car, but I don’t see how a NASCAR appearance is helping…Most of those people are dumb hicks, who believe that a car means a LARGE but simplistic engine, attached to a LARGE but simplistic body. Their idea of entertainment is quite telling too: go around in an oval…you don’t even need to steer in the opposite direction…Also, the meaning of a picnic for these people is that you seat in a large and crowded parking lot, and eat junk food.

Ford Focus Pace Car Will Start Tomorrow's Nascar Race - Driver's ...

We’re accustomed to seeing Chevrolet Corvettes, Dodge Vipers and other powerful sports cars as pace vehicles in the Nascar Sprint Cup and other racing series. But this weekend racing fans will see something different as a 2012 Ford Focus economy car leads the pack.

The Focus will get its first shot at pace-car stardom at tomorrow’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. Mark Fields, Ford’s president of the Americas, will drive the car. The company says the pace-car stint is part of its strategy to broaden the new car’s appeal beyond typical economy buyers and into the enthusiast-driver segment.

“Bringing the 43-car field to the green flag will be an honor, but the real highlight of my day will be showing millions of race fans at MIS and across the country how much fun the new Focus is to drive,” Fields said. The

Of course, against the current backdrop of expensive gasoline, the new car’s 40-mile-per-gallon fuel economy rating may be its strongest selling point. The 400-mile Michigan race helps Ford emphasize how easy the Focus is on fuel. While the Sprint Cup cars competing in the race will have to stop for fuel five or six times, the Focus could travel up to 497 miles on a tank of gas, Ford says.

Ford has a reputation for using Nascar’s pace-car program to introduce new vehicles. Its subcompact Fiesta paced this race last year and a Fusion Hybrid sedan led the field to the start of the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2009. Ford’s Mustang GT 5.0 and redesigned 2011 Explorer SUV have also paced races in the past year.

It amazes me how simplistic people are to typecast sports fan in a certain group. I love NASCAR and I am not a dumb hick. All my life I have paid my taxes, and have worked ten to twelve hours a week for all my adult life, and I don’t eat only junk food. I am really amazed at how short-sighted our society has been with people who typecast people. And we, the American people, allow it to happen.

The Focus is a great car, but I don’t see how a NASCAR appearance is helping…Most of those people are dumb hicks, who believe that a car means a LARGE but simplistic engine, attached to a LARGE but simplistic body. Their idea of entertainment is quite telling too: go around in an oval…you don’t even need to steer in the opposite direction…Also, the meaning of a picnic for these people is that you seat in a large and crowded parking lot, and eat junk food.

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