How a Ford Mustang became a National Rally Champion

The Competition Limited Team’s 1969 Mach 1s. The second car from right is a 428 Cobra Jet. courtesy Ralph Beckman collection

When we saw Ford gussy up the Mustang Mach-E as a “Rally” model, we couldn’t help but think that the original Mustang deserved a bit more credit for getting its tires dirty in SCCA-sanctioned rally competition. This story originally ran on this site in July of 2018. It’s reproduced here unchanged. Enjoy! —Ed. 

If the mention of “rally championship” has you picturing mud-caked Subaru WRX STIs flying through the forest, a 1970 Ford Mustang print ad touting a national rally championship for the muscular Mach 1 might leave you scratching your head. Yet, this performance model introduced for 1969 did indeed win the SCCA Manufacturer’s Road Rally Championship for Ford that year and then repeated the feat for 1970.

The ad writers hyped the Mach 1’s power, handling, and braking for “driving 8000 miles of rallies in all kinds of weather.” The story behind the impressive feat, though, was more about the high caliber of rally drivers and navigators than the cars.

Ford’s Total Performance program had the carmaker competing in all types of motorsports through the 1960s. The Mustang impressed many by winning its class in the 1964 Tour de France road race, the same year that Ford’s Falcon Sprint took first in class and second overall in the Rallye Monte Carlo.

Ken Adams Mach 1 before competition.
Ken Adams Mach 1 before competition. courtesy Ken Adams collection

In the United States, Sports Car Club of America road rallies were popular among sports car drivers. These were time-speed-distance contests that emphasized precision driving and solving “traps” to reach checkpoints as closely as possible to a pre-measured time, which is different from the all-out-speed trials most associate with the word “rally” today. Points were deducted for being early or late.

Mach 1 and road rallying

For 1969, Ford began offering contingency money to rallyists who won or placed second or third with the new Mustang Mach 1. New Jersey-based accomplished rallyist Ed Crockett approached Ford with an idea for a national team, and Ford was in. The plan prescribed five individual teams based around the country to give Ford maximum coverage without the cost and logistics of transporting one team to all national and divisional events.

In Michigan, a separate group led by Gene Henderson, a Dearborn police officer and successful rallyist, proposed a similar plan to Ford. Henderson had run the Rallye Monte Carlo, Shell 4000 Trans-Canadian Rally and Michigan’s Press on Regardless Rally (P.O.R.) and also had a rally equipment company, Competition Limited.

Ralph Beckman drove a Mach 1 for the Dearborn-based Competition Limited team. The Leonard sticker indicated sponsorship from a regional oil refiner and gas station chain.
Ralph Beckman drove a Mach 1 for the Dearborn-based Competition Limited team. The Leonard sticker indicated sponsorship from a regional oil refiner and gas station chain. courtesy Ralph Beckman collection

“Gene and I put together a program for Ford to do national rallying, and Ford said yes,” recalls Ralph Beckman, Henderson’s fellow member in the Rallygators sports car club. “We later found out the New Jersey team had asked for a lot more money and got it!”

Prior to the Ford rally program, Beckman had won the Shell 4000 in 1968 with Chrysler engineer Scott Harvey in a Plymouth Barracuda. The duo also won the P.O.R. several times, before and after the Mustang program. Beckman is today involved with the Subaru Rally Team USA, and he also drives in European historic rallies in a 1967 Barracuda.

Crockett’s operation became the official “Ford Rally Team,” with Mach 1s painted Meadowlark Yellow. Henderson’s Dearborn-based group campaigned under his “Competition Limited” banner with Wimbledon White Mach 1s.

Ralph Beckman’s 1969 Mach 1 at his Detroit area apartment.
Ralph Beckman’s 1969 Mach 1 at his Detroit area apartment. courtesy Ralph Beckman collection

Crockett’s navigator was Mac Cornforth. Others on the Ford Rally Team included husband and wife Roger and Kathy Bohl, national rally champions based in New Jersey. In Pennsylvania, Bruce Gezon teamed up with Jack Chidester; Allan White and John Bain formed another team; Nathan “Available” Jones and Russell “Alligator” Brown were based in Houston, and Ken Adams was a driver with navigator Steve Wood in California.

“I competed mostly in the west,” Adams tells Hagerty. “I ran as far north as Washington, and I think the furthest east we went was Texas.”

Gezon and Chidester competed in SCCA Class B, which did not allow calculating devices, such as the Curta, a type of mechanical calculator, nor more sophisticated electronics. The rest of the Ford Rally Team members were in Class A, which allowed such equipment.

“I used home-made Fortran rally tables in increments of 0.04 miles and decimal-seconds,” explains Gezon.

Ken Adams competed for the Ford Rally team at mostly West Coast events in a 1970 Cobra Jet Mach 1.
Ken Adams competed for the Ford Rally team at mostly West Coast events in a 1970 Cobra Jet Mach 1. courtesy Ken Adams collection
The Michelin Man on Ken Adams’ Mach 1 indicates the Ford Rally Team’s switch from bias-ply to radial tires.
The Michelin Man on Ken Adams’ Mach 1 indicates the Ford Rally Team’s switch from bias-ply to radial tires. courtesy Ken Adams collection

Individual owners chose options for their Mach 1s; most had the 351-cubic-inch V-8 that debuted for 1969, and a few had the 428 Cobra Jet. There was a mix of automatics and four-speeds, and 1970 models were later used. The cars remained mechanically stock for rallying.

“The Mach 1s were quite good for what was needed,” recalls Gezon, who remains involved in rallying as a rallymaster and steward. “They had sufficient power and handling for the back roads, and a good feel for the road. The weight distribution wasn’t great, though.”

Dave Weiman, who was based in Chicago at the time, drove for the Competition Limited team and recalls the period fondly. He began rallying in the 1960s and continues to be involved in the sport.

“I was young and didn’t make much money when I was asked to be on the team,” says Weiman. “Bernie Rekus, a friend from a local sports car club, bought the car and navigated.”

Roger and Kathy Bohl, championship rallyists from New Jersey, compete in a Mexico City rally with their 1970 Mach 1.
Roger and Kathy Bohl, championship rallyists from New Jersey, compete in a Mexico City rally with their 1970 Mach 1. courtesy Ken Adams collection
Ken Adams drove one of the few 428 CJ Mach 1s in Ford’s rally program.
Ken Adams drove one of the few 428 CJ Mach 1s in Ford’s rally program. courtesy Ken Adams collection

Rally to grandmother’s house

The “8000 miles of rallies” touted by Ford’s Mach 1 advertisement was a total figure for the season’s rallies.

“The national rallies in those days were 400-500 miles over a weekend,” Weiman explains. “We drove the cars to them. We’d leave Thursday night, drive all night, rally on Saturday and Sunday, then drive home in time to go to work on Monday. As I recall, there were 15 or 16 events, including one-day divisional rallies. You had to do three out of five nationals and four out of six divisionals to do the championship.”

Weiman can explain time-speed-distance rallying in great technical detail but likes to sum up the competition as so:

In addition to Ford winning the SCCA Manufacturer’s Championships in 1969 and 1970 with the Mach 1, the individual teams also did well. The Bohls won the Class A Championship in 1969, and Wieman and Rekus took it for 1970; Gezon and Chidester won the Class B Championship in both years.

Ford dropped the Mustang rally program after 1970. As performance rallying with speed stages gained in popularity, road rallying has declined, Weiman explains.

“Back then, you’d get 60-100 cars at an event. Today, you might get 10.”

Jim Burke of Haberfelde Ford in Bakersfield, CA (now Burke Ford) presents Ken Adams with trophy for being part of Ford’s winning the 1970 SCCA Manufacturer’s Road Rally Championship.
Jim Burke of Haberfelde Ford in Bakersfield, CA (now Burke Ford) presents Ken Adams with trophy for being part of Ford’s winning the 1970 SCCA Manufacturer’s Road Rally Championship. courtesy Ken Adams collection

Only one left?

“To my knowledge, only one of the cars has been found,” says Gezon, referring to the Jones/Brown 1969 428 CJ Mach 1 that sold at a Barrett-Jackson auction in 2013 for $53,900.

The rest of the 1969-1970 Mach 1 rally cars have possibly been lost to time, or, if any are still around, their owners possibly don’t know the special history. Beckman sold his Mach 1 in the early 1970s, as did Gezon, who had used his as a daily driver for five years.

1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback
1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1 Fastback Barrett-Jackson

While not as dramatic as the discovery of the Bullitt Mustangs, locating more of the Mach 1 rally cars would bring well-deserved attention to this unique chapter in Mustang competition.

Author’s acknowledgement: Thanks to Ken Adams, Ralph Beckman, Bruce Gezon, and Dave Weiman for sharing their knowledge, memories and photographs.

 

 

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Comments

    my first car was a 1969 Mach 1… orignally maroon with gold stripes… when the paint got thin had it painted white with black stripes…. 351W 4BBL and FMX trans…. with G50s out back, G60s up front and just the factory bullet mufflers….looked great sitting on all that rubber and Cragers of course…lol !

    The AMC built by Penske won 7 of 10 races that year . . . I was at the Edmonton race and only Donahue & Folmer #16 Boss were on the lead lap . . . the rest of the field was a lap or more down.
    Once again Penske & Donahue proved they can produce a winner from an also-ran.
    They did the same with the Camaro . . . only non Penske Camaro Tran-Am win was in Brainerd Minn. in 69 I believe.

    I bought a new 1969 Mach 1 428 4-speed during my last year in the USAF. I entered it in a road rally in Key West Florida and also a high-speed autocross, on Pine Island Florida. Both events were sponsored by the Southern Florida Sports Car Club. I did terrible at the road rally; however, I won my class at the high-speed autocross. I had no idea that Ford supported rallies in 1969 or 1970 until I read this article.

    Great article. POR (Press on Regardless) rally is still alive and running strong, in fact the 75th running was last weekend, with over 30 entries this year, perhaps TSD is making a comeback ? There is a Facebook page, book and Wikipedia page if anyone is interested in finding out more.

    I was 2 weeks away from getting my commission at NAS Pensacola in the spring of 1971 when I bought a slightly used 1969 Mustang Mach 1, wimbledon white with a 351, 4bbl, 4 speed for $2100.00. I wish I still had it…wouldacouldashoulda. I’m trying to make amends having restored a 1985 GT convert and 3/4 of the way through a 1965 2+2 fastback.

    The 69 Mach 1 was always my high school dream car so now I have one for the last 23 years and will likely pass it down to my grandson some day.

    For 1970, Ford established a $10,000. fund for any Ford product placing in the top three in national or divisional SCCA rally’s. Shortly after my car owner rally partner and
    I ran the 1969 POR. rally, he joined the navy. I learned about Fords program. I bought a 1963 Ford Sprint. On our first divisional event and only our second event together, Al Doughty and I won first overall driving in class B (unequaled). For the year we took home$495 of that 10,000.
    It wasn’t just Mustangs that helped Ford win the championship.

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