Racers, golfers agree on Ford's speed machines

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- It was the perfect setting for the time-honored "dad speech."

An eclectic mix of Professional Golf Association linksters and NASCAR stock car drivers gathered last week at Homestead-Miami Speedway in conjunction with the PGA's Ford Championship at Doral Country Club in Miami.

	Elliott Sadler, right and Terry Cook wait their turn to try out the new machinery. Credit: Turner Sports Interactive

What spiced up the day -- and set the stage for "the speech" -- was Ford Racing's involvement.

Ford brought along four high-performance vehicles, including the highly anticipated 2005 Ford GT -- a retro version of the Ford sports cars that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Daytona in the 1960s.

Over lunch, Nextel Cup drivers Matt Kenseth and Kurt Busch were perfectly cast as the punk teens sneaking off to joy ride in dad's prized hot rod.

Even though a meal was being served, Busch and Kenseth were having none of it. A nod, a wink and a dip of the shoulder and the pair simply walked away from the group massed under an awning at the Ford Racing hospitality motor coach.

Waiting on pit road were a silver-and-black, 500-plus horsepower GT, an SVT Cobra Mustang and a couple of Ford Racing's specialty vehicles -- the 1953 pickup replica FR-100 and the World Rally Championship Focus model FR-200.

What ensued was as perfect as the pristine surroundings.

The tire screeching was relatively mild, but the throaty rumble of V8 horsepower was obvious. A flog-fest was in effect.

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But what the pair -- used to performing weekly on a very public stage -- did to step out of their clandestine mode was priceless. Kenseth invited a NASCAR.COM cameraman to accompany him in the GT.

As a result, his pair of spins at the over-a-hilltop entrance to the tricky corkscrew section of the course was captured for history.

"That was a little too loose," Kenseth had said after the first twirl.

The video went on to show Kenseth battling the wheel for the second lap. When the spinning stopped, there was the unforgettable view of Busch and the '53 pickup -- nose-to-nose with the $140,000 GT.

"I couldn't get it tightened up," Kenseth said out the window to Busch, as Kurt drove past miserably failing to stifle his laughter.

"We were both running hard through the corners, but I finally got him to spin out," Busch said. "When he stopped spinning, I was looking straight at him -- that was fun."

For the group enjoying the paddock ambience, the only clue was a sudden lack of rumble, and a rather large cloud of blue- and brown-tinged smoke.

A short time later, the miscreant group strolled across the Busch Series garage area and one thing was universal: Ear to ear grins.

"I wanted to stay out of the sand trap up there," Kenseth said. "So I just kept it pegged, doing doughnuts."

But through the smiles, there was an undertone of anguish voiced by fellow Cup driver Elliott Sadler.

"Did you get the dad speech?" Sadler wailed. "I spun one car out at the proving grounds last year and now I'm the black sheep of the family.

"I got the dad speech."

Actually, everyone got "the speech." Due to the split nature of the event, there was a genuine concern that the drivable GT -- one of two that were on-site -- survive until the arrival of Ford Division president Steve Lyons in the afternoon.

VIDEO CLIPS NASCAR stars talk about their experience at Homestead Play video

That was what made Kenseth and Busch's noontime high jinks even more outrageous. All things considered, as professional drivers would, they took perfect care of the cars.

"The car handles real good," Kenseth said. "But there's so much tail weight that once it gets going (loose) it goes right around."

The car's agent said the weight percentages were 53 percent rear and 47 percent to the front. That caused Busch and Kenseth to exchange a knowing glance and a shrug.

"That explains the way it was working out there," Busch said. "When you feel it getting loose you give it more throttle so the rear tires dig in.

"When the rear end starts to come around, you squeeze down on the gas and boom -- you're down to the next corner."

To a man, the group of drivers, including 1999 NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett and Craftsman Truck Series drivers Rick Crawford and Terry Cook, raved about the opportunity, particularly to drive the Ford GT.

Kenseth was promised one of the cars after he won the 2003 NASCAR championship, but he doesn't expect to receive the vehicle for up to a year.

Sadler was adamant that he would like one of the cars, citing those "turtle-backed roads up around Emporia, Va.," as the perfect location to wring the car out.

Jarrett, his Robert Yates Racing teammate, owns a sizeable Ford dealership that ostensibly might give him a leg up on getting one of the cars. Jarrett said he could make one claim if he had one of them.

"I think I'd get a ticket," he said, grinning all the while.

That was the general atmosphere for the day.

"That was a blast," Busch said of the day, which included stock cars and instructors from the Jarrett Driving Adventure.

The PGA players vied against each other on solo laps but then were given the "real deal" by the NASCAR drivers, who staged a mock two-lap "race" with each group of golfers.

It showed that one trait is shared across all of sports -- competition.

	Credit: Turner Sports Interactive

"To see these guys get into our element and out of theirs, so to speak, is a lot of fun to watch them adapt," Jarrett said. "I think the biggest thing is to see how competitive they are.

"As they get in the cars for the first time, going around, and then they stand and watch a little bit and think about what they did. Then you watch them go back out and try to better their times or better their competitors' times and see just how competitive they are.

"They go at each other every single week. But it's great that Ford gives them this opportunity. These guys do a tremendous job on the weekends and I love watching them on TV, but it's really fun to be here with them and to see those competitive spirits come out in something else."

Busch said he had a great time.

"It was neat to watch the PGA players go out there trying to spite one another to see who could run the quickest lap time," Busch said. "The weather was perfect and then we were able to give the PGA players some rides at the end of the day and scare the wits out of them, so it was a really fun-filled day for all of us."

Kenseth compared the experience to one he had during the offseason.

"It's exciting to come down here," Kenseth said. "I think any time any professional athletes get to go see part of a different sport I think it's exciting.

"I know this winter I got to go to some (Green Bay Packer) football games and stand on the sidelines and kind of see what it was like from their perspective instead of seeing it on TV or up in the stands, and it was a lot different, so I think anytime you can do that it's fun."

Cook and Sadler both said being a fan was fun, for a change.

"This is cool, this is way cool," Cook said before taking his turn in spinning the GT, without harm. "We get to come here and hang out with some of the tour golfers and maybe pick up a few tips from them and get to run some cars around the track at the same time -- what more could you ask for?"

"I kind of bring my pad and pen and get some autographs while I'm down here," said Sadler, an ardent golfer. "Like Terry was saying, maybe I can get some tips.

"You watch those guys (golfers) on TV and they make it look so easy. You go out and try to play and things just don't seem to work out that way. I've got to hit them up for some ideas or some clues."

In the end, Busch said there were other professional notes to compare with the PGA guys other than golf, like scheduling.

"We did talk about that, especially with somebody like Phil Mickelson, who has a lot of endorsement deals and then plays Thursday through Sunday," Busch said. "They compete just about as much as we do.

"Tuesday was kind of unique because we had competitors from two major sports -- with the longest seasons in professional sports -- and we were goofing around on a racetrack with some really neat cars.

"It just goes to show that we can have some fun during the week and then go back to work on the weekends."