Ford And Nhra Team Up On Safety; Blue Boxes To Debut In All Nhra Nitro Cars At Start Of 2008 Season

Ford And Nhra Team Up On Safety; Blue Boxes To Debut In All Nhra Nitro Cars At Start Of 2008 Season

Accelerating safety development in the sport of drag racing, the NHRA and Ford Racing jointly announced today that all cars in the Funny Car and Top Fuel classes will be outfitted with the Ford Racing “Blue Box” crash sensors for the 2008 season.

“Ford, like the NHRA, is committed to continuously improving safety. It’s important to further improving our passenger cars and trucks and also to what we’re doing in racing,” said Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology. “We’re supplying Blue Boxes – at no cost – for all nitro cars for next year. It’s the right thing to do for the sport and the millions of customers who will benefit from whatever we learn on the track.”

The announcement comes after seven months of initial testing and data analysis of the Blue Boxes on the Mustang Funny Cars of John Force Racing (JFR).

Ford Racing offered the crash sensors and engineering support for their use after the death of JFR driver Eric Medlen in a testing accident in March, which led JFR, in cooperation with Ford Racing, NHRA and the sport’s suppliers, in August to launch “The Eric Medlen Project,” a wide-ranging program designed to further improve safety in the sport.

Ford Racing and NHRA will work together during the next several weeks and prior to the start of the 2008 POWERade Drag Racing season on specific program elements.

“NHRA has, since its inception, always been committed to improve safety in the sport,” said Graham Light, senior vice president of racing operations. “And, during that time, NHRA has worked on an ongoing basis with manufacturers and the racing community to enhance the safety of these vehicles. We are very proud of our safety record, given the inherent risks in the sport, and look forward to analyzing the data we anticipate to receive from the Blue Box initiative to further our commitment to safety.”

Read the complete Press Release