Ken Czubay, Ford vice president of U.S. Marketing, Sales and Service, will be behind the wheel of the Ford Focus Electric pace car when it makes its historic NASCAR debut Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway.
Czubay, an executive actively involved in Ford’s motorsport efforts, will use the Focus Electric to take the 43-car NASCAR field to the green flag as the race’s honorary pace car driver. Following the start, NASCAR’s Brett Bodine will take over his normal duties as the series’ regular pace car driver.
“I’m excited about being the pace car driver of the Focus Electric Saturday night,” said Czubay. “Not only will it be a historic first as the first all-electric pace car in NASCAR, but we are going to have the chance to show the thousands of fans there that night and the millions more watching on TV that you don’t have to compromise fun-to-drive capability for fuel efficiency.”
This marks the latest in a line of groundbreaking moments for Ford in NASCAR. In addition to being the first manufacturer to compete with a four-door sedan as its flagship model in 1998, Ford was also first to use a hybrid to start a NASCAR event when the Fusion Hybrid served as pace car for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2008.
In January, Ford became the first manufacturer to show off its 2013 NASCAR race car when it unveiled the new 2013 Fusion racer to media in Charlotte, N.C.
Ford Racing PR
