The year was 1981. Ronald Reagan became president of the United States. Muhammad Ali retired from professional boxing and the price of a gallon of gasoline was $1.25.
Yet it was also a turning point in the history of Ford, in the Detroit automaker's official return to motorsports competition through the newly created SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) unit.
With a clear focus on fuel-efficient vehicles, following the end of the second oil crisis, SVO rolled out the Miller Mustang for the 1981 IMSA season.
Powered by a four-cylinder turbo, the GTX class car made its debut at Road Atlanta that year with two-time Le Mans winner Klaus Ludwig at the wheel. The German driver nearly pulled off a debut victory, finishing just 0.14 seconds behind the winning Porsche 935.
Fast forward more than 30 years and Ford's latest-generation turbo technology heads to the famed 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit in Georgia.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas are coming off their third TUDOR United SportsCar Championship win of the season, following a strategic victory at Circuit of The Americas that saw their Ford EcoBoost-powered Riley DP stretch the fuel mileage over their competitors.
"This has been a terrific year for Ford and Ford EcoBoost," said Mickey Matus, Ford Racing marketing communication manager. "With three wins so far, the Ganassi and Shank [Michael Shank Racing] teams have done a great job demonstrating the power and fuel efficiency of this production-based engine.
With a clear focus on fuel-efficient vehicles, following the end of the second oil crisis, SVO rolled out the Miller Mustang for the 1981 IMSA season. Powered by a four-cylinder turbo, the GTX class car made its debut at Road Atlanta that year with two-time Le Mans winner Klaus Ludwig at the wheel. The German driver nearly pulled off a debut victory, finishing just 0.14 seconds behind the winning Porsche 935.
"And I can't remember closer collaboration between the racing program and mainstream engineering since the performance heyday of the '60s â with all involved focused on the goal of winning."
Matus, who promoted Ford's return to racing through the Miller Mustang program in 1981, has seen significant strides through the years, but none more than with the rollout of its 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 this year in the TUDOR Championship, which has showcased the brand's relevance to the showroom floor.
"Ford's involvement in the TUDOR Championship revolves around showcasing the EcoBoost engine and its technology," he said. "Endurance sports car racing is the best opportunity available to us to prove in a public and dramatic fashion the durability, power and efficiency of EcoBoost engine technology.
"Given that the race engine is 70 percent common with the EcoBoost engine offered in the Ford F-150, Taurus SHO and the all-new Transit, its success on the track is quite a story."
As Matus points out, much of the technology proven on the track, in turn, gets translated into Ford production cars on the road, with the EcoBoost being a prime example.
"A big reason Ford offers EcoBoost engines in vehicles ranging from Fiesta, Focus, Mustang and Taurus to Escape, Edge, Explorer and Flex to the F-150, Transit and Transit Connect is the fact that customers are demanding better and better fuel economy â but still want to be able to have fun driving," Matus said. "EcoBoost offers just that â the best of both worlds."
Success in Saturday's 10-hour Petit Le Mans will depend on many factors, but given the strong results this season, another win in one of the TUDOR Championship's key endurance races could be in the cards for either team.
