Ford CEO Jim Farley was adamant that he wanted to continue enjoying his racing hobby before accepting the top position at the automaker. And Ford was happy to oblige, even if the risk of motorsports makes more than one business expert a bit nervous. Regardless, Farley had quite the successful outing at his latest race over the weekend, even bringing home a win in the process.
That race, the Road Atlanta Grand Prix, was put on by the Sportscar Vintage Racing Association. The endurance event was the last of the season, and Farley made it count by piloting his 1978 Lola T298 to victory with a time of 1:25.592. On top of that, he also set the session’s top speed of 106.832 miles-per-hour in the process.
A total of 13 teams competed in the 70-minute-long event, during which they were allowed only one pit stop. Farley’s Lola racer is powered by a Ford-Cosworth engine, and he also owns and competes in a 1966 Ford GT40.
Newly-minted Ford CEO Jim Farley has been racing for a number of years now, an activity that didn’t really attract much external scrutiny until he accepted the automaker’s top executive position. University of Michigan law professor Erik Gordon was particularly scathing in his assessment of Farley’s racing hobby, saying “I think a CEO who puts his or her hobby ahead of concern for the success of the company doesn’t have CEO-level priorities.”
Photos from Ford CEO @jimfarley98’s SVRA race win this morning at Road Atlanta in his Ford Cosworth-powered Lola. 🏁💪🏻💙 #PoweredByFord pic.twitter.com/cgffwrlbTA
— Mike Levine (@mrlevine) November 22, 2020
However, Farley isn’t the only CEO of a major automaker that enjoys motorsports. He’s joined by General Motors President Mark Reuss, Toyota President Akio Toyoda, and PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares, who all spend quality time at the track on a regular basis, exercising their passions to help balance out the stresses of running large companies.
We’ll have more on Jim Farley’s racing endeavors soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more non-stop Ford news coverage.
Comments
Congratulations Jim!
Secound that deffently.Everyone is aloud a hobby to get away from it once in a while that does not mean that person is not commented to the company 100% .
Good Lord I had to read that 3 times for the message to come through. I hope that was just a combo of mobile+swype and not proofreading before you clicked “post comment”. I agree that people should be able to have lives outside of work. Some jobs don’t. I’m sure the worry is about what would happen to stock prices if he were injured or killed.
Ford stock would go up
Win on Sunday sell on Monday! That’s why Jim is the man and the lawyer isn’t!! You can’t sell the product if you’re not in touch with it and it’s people who love it!! Lawyer fella is an excellent example of what is wrong with corporate America!
Now that the season over maybe Jim
Farley can get to work on a EV Lincoln Continental flagship sedan for the brand. While everyone else is asked to pull back on things we like to do, he’s out having a great day at the races. John Force race for a living he parked all 4 teams to keep THEM SAFE FROM #19 THIS YEAR
Are you always this miserable? Get a life.
I do it’s called being RESPONSIBLE we dealing with a DEADLY VIRUS right now grow up
Best thing for Ford to have a true car enthusiast at the helm, like McLaren with Zak Brown.
Well, this may be the first time since Henry Ford that we have a racer at the helm! Very nice to see…love it!
Yes it’s nice to see Jim Farley out at the track having fun while the Lincoln Aviator Ford Explorer, Escape and Ranger are reported of have Quality issues. Paying Customers put out $30k to $100k for those vehicles, I bet you they don’t think it’s nice. Some great advice Work 1st before Play