BOSS IS BACK

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Forty years after it’s namesake became a road racing legend, the BOSS 302R is back on track for 2010 with the new 5.0-liter V-8 engine.

Jamie Allison, director Ford North American Motorsports; Fritz Wilke, Ford Mustang Brand Manager; Mike Harrison, Ford Motor Company Engine Programs manager; and the man who made the original BOSS 302 famous, Parnelli Jones participated in a press conference before the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Series season-opener to celebrate the debut of the new BOSS 302R.

JAMIE ALLISON – DIRECTOR, FORD NORTH AMERICAN MOTORSPORTS
WOULD YOU LIKE TO DISCUSS THE NEW VEHICLE?
“Absolutely. What an exciting moment here with Parnelli. Almost 40 years, actually 40 years and counting when Parnelli established and set the legend of the original BOSS 302. We couldn’t be more thrilled. Brand new car, this year at Ford Motor Company, it’s the 2011 Mustang with a new 5.0-liter engine. That in itself is a great history, but to actually track it down and actually build a race car around that historic 5.0-liter and be surrounded by the legend, and our dear friend Parnelli, to re-introduce the BOSS 302R to its true form, which is back on the track where it belongs.”

PARNELLI JONES
YOU WERE ABLE TO SEE THE NEW BOSS AND THE OLD BOSS TOGETHER TODAY. HOW DID THE TWO COMPARE?
“To compare the two cars, obviously they can make a lot more power today and they’ve certainly done that. The new car is phenomenal, it handles great. I got a chance to drive a little bit out at Laguna Seca, drive the new car that they’re racing today, and I can certainly see that they’ve come a long way. Obviously, they have a little better power, a little better brakes, probably a little better drivers, probably, anyway. It’s really thrilling to be a part of Mustang because I certainly feel a great part of it, spent my whole life, I always say 40 years, I’ve got 4 of them myself. They’re really enjoyable cars and I can’t say anything greater than that.”

COULD YOU SPEAK TO THE ADVENT OF TECHNOLOGY FROM WHAT YOU’VE RACED TO WHAT WE’RE SEEING IN THE RACE CARS TODAY? HOW MUCH DOES IT BLOW YOUR MIND AT HOW FAR WE’VE COME?
“Well, actually that’s one thing that’s quite different. In our day, we didn’t have any electronics, and we had metals, for example, that weren’t as good as they are today. Valve springs, for example, was a big problem that we had back in 1970, and today they’ve come a long ways. The amazing part of it is you can, in today’s Mustang, you can take it out and go hot lap it for quite a few laps and things like that without hurting it. In our day, in ’70, you couldn’t do that quite with a streetcar and went out and take a few laps, you would probably burn it down. They’ve come, with technology, a long ways. As we can see, you can make so much more power today in the same amount of cubic inches as we did then. It just goes on and on. The brakes are better. The tires are better. Technology has just come a long way, so it’s not the same, but take whatever you race, whatever you have at that particular moment, and try to maximize the most out of it.”

YOU HAVE RACED A LOT OF CHAMPIONS. WHAT DID THEY HAVE THAT MADE THEM CHAMPIONS? CAN YOU COMPARE THE CHAMPIONS OF TODAY TO THOSE FROM YESTERDAY?
“It’s a good question. I don’t think one driver from one place to another is any different. What really makes a race driver stand out is his will to win, his desire. I think there are a lot of drivers out there that have a lot of talent, maybe they’re lacking a little bit in their desire. The ones that standout have the most desire. You see that in the famous names that you see in racing.”

IN TODAY’S RACE ENVIRONMENT WITH THE RACE CARS OF TODAY, CAN YOUR APPROACH TO RACING BE APPLIED WITH SUCCESS?
“You’re talking about desire, that’s what you’re getting at. When I first started racing we were running old jalopies, and we had as many as 200 cars show up to qualify and they only took 16 for the main event. You gave it 110-120 percent constantly. There was no letting down at any moment, you pushed, shoved, took everything to the max. That probably hurt my career a lot because when I went into other types of racing, I tended to do the same things, well they corrected me right away, the officials did. I think it just spells out the desire. I want to win, and I did at all costs so-to-speak.”

MIKE HARRISON – FORD MOTOR COMPANY ENGINE PROGRAMS MANAGER
UNDER THE HOOD, HOW DO THE TWO CARS COMPARE?
“Certainly both have enough motor to be competitive in their times. I know the original BOSS 302 had lots of power out on the track. The street car was a little de-tuned from that, but you had plenty of power at the top in Parnelli. With the 5.0-liter that we have here today for the BOSS 302R, we’re essentially pretty much stock for what we’ve announced for the 2011 5.0- liter. It’s very slightly modified from the 2011 engine, but we get to take advantage of that fact. Really we’ve got a lot of torque to pull out of the corners and also it’s going to make racing a lot more affordable because this is a primarily production based engine that we’ve pulled off our machine and assembly lines, so it’s very economical for us to do this. It’s going to make racing a lot more affordable.”

FRITZ WILKE – FORD MUSTANG BRAND MANAGER

HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE GT AND THE BOSS 302R TO COMPARE ON TRACK?
“We’re so excited to have our Mustangs back on track and we’re so excited to debut this 5.0-liter that a lot of people have been waiting for with the BOSS 302R. We’ve got legendary paint schemes, Parnelli, we’ve borrowed your paint scheme, thank you for letting us do that. We are so excited and we think all of the Mustangs are going to do great this year. We’re really looking forward to it as a brand to really embrace the heritage of racing that we have engineered for 45 years.”

PAST MEETS BOSS 302 FUTURE AT RACING DEBUT

Image by kptyson via Flickr

Forty years ago, racing legend Parnelli Jones piloted a Mustang BOSS 302 to a championship title. Starting today, five Ford Racing BOSS 302R teams look to channel the spirit of Jones’ success and go for another championship while Jones himself looks on.

To commemorate the 40th anniversary of Parnelli Jones’ 1970 Trans-Am Championship in a Mustang BOSS 302 prepared by Bud Moore Engineering, Ford Racing recently introduced the new BOSS 302R, a factory-built race ready Mustang for track days and road racing in a number of SCCA and NASA classes.

Built with a special Grand Am Homologation Package, the BOSS 302R will compete in the Grand Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge series (formerly known as Koni Challenge), starting with today’s season-opening race in Daytona. Multimatic Motorsports, Jim Click Racing, JBS Motorsports and Racer’s Edge Motorsports will campaign for their first victory this weekend, and Parnelli Jones will be on hand at the track, visiting with the teams and drivers.

“The original BOSS 302 was a championship-winning icon,” said Jamie Allison, director, Ford North Motorsports. “The new Mustang BOSS 302R will be ready to carry on that tradition. The Mustang was born to race from the start, and this new Mustang is born to win.”

The BOSS 302R features the Ford Racing Boss 302 crate engine, based on the new 5.0-liter 4-valve V-8 found in the 2011 Mustang GT. With the Grand Am Homologation Package, this turnkey race car also includes a 6-speed manual transmission with a roll cage, race seats, a safety harness, race dampers and springs, upgraded brakes and tires. The total ready-to-race package will cost $129,000 (MSRP).

The BOSS 302R follows in the very successful footsteps of its most recent road racing predecessor—the Mustang FR500C from Ford Racing. In 2005, when the Mustang FR500C debuted at Daytona, the first car was delivered on Wednesday of that week and won the Koni Challenge race on Friday.

In five years of competition since then, the FR500C has won three drivers’ championships, including back-to-back (2008—2009) Triple Crown championships of driver, team and manufacturers titles in Koni competition. The FR500C has also seen success in European FIA GT3 and FIA GT4 competition, and also by the recent E-85 fueled land speed record set by Hajek Motorsports at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

“We expect the BOSS 302R to continue the successful tradition of winning, factory-built race cars from Ford Racing,” said Allison.

“The FR500C and FR500S road racing Mustangs, and the CobraJet drag racer have proven to be competitive right out of the box for our customers, helping teams win races and championships. We have high hopes for the BOSS 302R to provide that same sort of competitive product for our customers with the tradition you can only get from Ford Racing.”

Ford Racing engineer Andy Slankard has been instrumental in the development and testing of the new BOSS 302R. Slankard attended the recent Daytona test sessions and is confident with the performance of the purpose-built race car.

“We have won three championships in five years, so we know how to make a Mustang fast,” said Slankard. “So far, everything is looking really solid. I don’t anticipate any major changes. We are pretty sorted with the content that will be in the car. We are just working on things to make sure they are durable and reliable.”

Available through the Ford Racing warehouse, a total of 50 BOSS 302R Mustangs will be built by Ford Racing. Delivery is anticipated in third quarter of 2010. For those who miss out on the initial lot of 50, Ford Racing Performance Parts will sell all the parts necessary to convert a Mustang to a BOSS 302R including the BOSS 302 engine.