Ford CEO Jim Farley is driving the automaker toward an electric future, but he still likes driving old-school cars.
Farley is an avid collector of vintage racers that he regularly enters in historic events.
The vehicles included Shelby Cobras, a Ford-powered 1978 Lola T 298 and a 200 mph Ford GT 40 like the one Ford famously beat Ferrari in the 1960s at Le Mans.
Farley has been working on bringing the GT 40 to the annual Le Mans Classic event since 2018, and his persistence paid off with a second place finish over the Fourth of July weekend.
He said after the event, he had a dream come true. A podium finish at LeMans Classic in a GT 40. Three hours of flat-out racing against some of the best drivers I know. What a great team! Farley took part in three 45 minute heat races, and his average finish ranked him second in the GT 40 class.
He will take some extra pride in having brought the car into shape. It had been converted into a road car in 1971, but Farley restored it to its period-correct racing form, including changing its metallic red paint back to Ford dark blue with Wimbledon white stripes.
He told Petrolicious in 2016 that the pedals work, because I want to win and I want to do well as an American over here, because simple stuff like seat height, my position in the car, how the pedals work, and how the pedals work.
Farley has approval from Ford Chairman Bill Ford to continue his racing exploits despite the risks involved in the CEO of the number 22 company on the Fortune 500 list.
Farley told Hagerty CEO McKeel Hagerty shortly after becoming CEO of Ford, because I was very up-front with Bill about my racing.
He plays competitive ice hockey, and he said that, No, no, you need to keep racing, that is your yoga, and it is good for you to keep connected with the product like that. Farley's Le Mans finish was not his first success. He had a class win at the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association events in Atlanta and Sebring in the year 2020 and 2021.