Jensen Ford with son, Hudson.
Even though it has only now reached the halfway mark, the 2021 season has already been one to remember for racer Jensen Ford. The 33-year-old has experienced a number of firsts during the current campaign and is enjoying the recognition that often comes with success. Perhaps the first that has garnered the Johnson City, Tennessee driver the most attention was his performance under the brightest of all spotlights when the No. 83 TNT Race Cars team ventured to the Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio to participate in the week-long Dirt Late Model Dream double features.
Ford got the attention of the FloRacing.com broadcast crew throughout the week, but particularly with his qualifying efforts on the two preliminary race nights. But it wasn’t just the racing that the first time participant in the crown jewel event had to get used to, including the first-day drama surrounding Scott Bloomquist’s late arrival.
“It was a lot to take in,” Ford said of the Eldora atmosphere in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “There was a lot of people there, a lot going on. We were lucky enough to be parked beside of Scott and all of his nonsense with coming in late and all of that. It was a pretty wild experience. We unloaded and had pretty good speed and we were pretty pleased with the way it went. There’s really nowhere to go test for that place because it ain’t like nothing around here but I felt like we did all right.”
Ford posted the third fastest lap out of the 37 drivers entered in Group A qualifying on the first night(Wednesday) of competition at the famed half-mile clay oval. His time that night bettered those of noteworthy drivers such as Brandon Overton, Brandon Sheppard, Dale McDowell, Josh Richards, and Tim McCreadie.
After finishing fifth in his heat the driver of the No. 83 started the Wednesday night main event from 19th and eventually finished 18th.
On Friday night, Ford was again impressive in time-trials as he slotted into the eighth spot out of 37 cars topping such well known names as Chris Madden, Dale McDowell, Brandon Sheppard, and Josh Richards. A second place finish in his heat race netted a fifth starting position in the feature.
Ford went on to finish a very solid sixth in Friday’s Group B feature race.
But it was on the night’s in which the two Dirt Late Model Dream races were held that Ford found difficulty. Trouble in his heats and the B-mains on both of those nights kept Ford out of the lucrative main events.
“We had a real good car in qualifying,” Ford explained, “We were pretty good on (second)prelim night in the feature. But prelim night was totally different than the heat races on the big race days and that threw me for a loop. The race track was pretty much the same, but the whole atmosphere kind of changed. It just messes with you a little bit as a driver and that’s something I’ve got to get a little more used to. We were pretty good in qualifying and pretty good on both prelim nights.”
Ford’s efforts did not go unnoticed on the Eldora Speedway property. With a multitude of people in the track’s pit area, many made their introduction to the racer who had only raced there one other time in a Crate Late Model more than a decade ago.
“It was pretty wild,” Ford recalled. “There’s a lot of people in the pits and that’s something that you don’t really see a lot at most places. There was a lot of traffic and it was pretty wild. Everybody kept coming up to me in the pits and talking to me and stuff like that. It was pretty cool.”
The racer who so far in 2021 has won his first Southern All-Star Dirt Racing Series event at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tennessee and his first Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model Series feature at Wartburg(TN) Speedway is making the most of his current opportunity. He also leads the Iron-Man standings after seven races.
“We’ve been lucky enough to be in a situation where we can go do those things,” Ford pointed out. “I told my car owner that it only takes a couple of times going to these bigger events and running good for somebody to see you and step up and help you a lot. It’s something we wanted to do and thought we could do. And fortunately, we’ve been able to show that we can go do that.”
Jensen Ford in his TNT Race Car
Not many teams use TNT Race Cars at the Super Late Model level. Ford’s father builds that brand of chassis and the driver hopes more racers might be enticed employ the Piney Flatts, Tennessee-built cars. With no other TNT drivers to lean on, Ford was able to rely on some advice from east Tennessee engine builder and racer Vic Hill before going to Eldora.
“It’s a lot of weight to carry because all of these guys have notes from other people they can go look at but I didn’t have nothing to go look at for Eldora,” Ford admitted. “I just watched some videos and I was lucky to have Vic get me in the right direction on gears and stuff like that. He helped me on where to be setup wise. But yeah, that makes it kind of tough being the only TNT going and doing these things but we’re trying to do the best we can.”
The hope is that TNT can return to the prominence it once held in the Dirt Late Model world.
“We’re getting back in the spotlight on that kind of stuff,” he said. “Years ago we had Scott Sexton running regional races and that helped sell a lot of cars back then. Hopefully now, with me running pretty good, dad can sell a few cars and it will help him out some.”
So will Ford return to Eldora?
“The people that helped us get up to the Dream, I think, are going to help us get back to the World 100. We’ll go back up there in September. Maybe we’ll get to go hit a few of these other special events along the way. I had planned on doing a few Lucas Oil shows out west but I think I want to do the Ray Cook deal(Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals) in the summer so we’ll see. We might try to do the Topless 100 or something like that and see how it goes out there.”
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