Roush Yates and JE Pistons Presenting Sponsors of Fun Ford Weekend Series

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (May 16, 2011) – The Fun Ford Weekend Series is back and better than ever with the support of Roush Yates and JE Pistons. Both companies are presenting sponsors for five event series touring the U.S. in 2011.

Roush Yates is a direct result of the merger that happened in 2004, when Jack Roush and Doug Yates came together to create the engine company which originally was spawned from Robert Yates Racing’s engine shop. Roush Yates Engines was formed to serve both Robert Yates Racing and Roush Fenway Racing teams.

Today, Roush Yates continues their success, not only as the exclusive engine supplier to all Ford Racing teams (in NASCAR), but serves the racing community with prized racing engines as well. Moreover, Roush Yates is quickly becoming a prominent player in the new performance components and used parts market.

Jon Sands, Vice President of Marketing at Roush Yates, spoke about becoming the presenting sponsor of Fun Ford weekends and why they decided to make that series sponsor selection. Sands relays the background of Roush Yates, and what this thriving corporation is all about.

“We have leveraged a strong reputation across not only NASCAR, but all forms of grass roots racing including drag racing, sprint cars, late model, modified, off road truck, American LeMans – to just about any form of racing out there,” said Jon Sands. “Our reputation began its groundswell when Roush Yates was formed in 2004 when we won the Sprint Cup Championship in our first year of operation. Then the new Roush Yates-designed Ford FR9 NASCAR engine was brought online in 2010. By design, (the FR9) was eased into the Sprint Cup Series. We didn’t just bring that engine out and place it with every Ford team. It was gradually introduced in more of a scientific kind of way. The engine proved itself with increased power and durability, and was 100% online by the end of 2010.

“In fact, Carl Edwards won the last two races of the year and on into 2011, Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500 … with FR9s finishing second and third. We go out to Phoenix and win the pole. The next week in Vegas, the FR9 wins the pole and the race. What we’re seeing is Roush Yates Engines continuing to be the talk of the performance industry. If you want better power for any kind of racing – or if you own a muscle or classic street rod of any year or make, we’ve got it,” he added.

Not only does Roush Yates supply the racing community with respected Ford racing engines, it also offers a vast selection of new and used race parts available for purchase. Available to the public are superior used engine parts, confirmed successful straight from their Cup, Nationwide and Truck shop at a portion of the price to buy them new. Roush Yates also provides new racing products to several top name racing outfits on down to the Saturday night racer.

“We’re also continuing to establish a solid offering of custom parts that are designed and produced by Roush Yates, like our widely known C3 and D3 cylinder heads and branded valve covers, which are a few of many Roush Yates-developed products. They’re developed by us, branded by us, it’s our product, and they win races. We also have a huge array of consumer parts, cleaners, oils and greases, ignition systems, safety equipment … you name it. Products you would find in any speed shop. We want to be the go-to parts and engine supplier, whether you are in the Ford car show or on the drag strip racing your new Mustang or displaying your classic Ford Galaxy. It just made perfect sense for us to become involved with Fun Ford Weekend,” said Sands.

Roush Yates has continuously recognized the racing needs outside of circle track and therefore broadened their business to include the entire performance industry.

The company recently expanded its retail store that is completely available to the public. The 40,000 square foot store is located in Mooresville, NC, amid a campus of various Roush Yates engine and product development centers. Sands referred to it a “speed shop on steroids.”

“We have some really great partners, and one of those partners is JE Pistons. The idea is for complementary companies like JE and RYE to strike while the iron is hot – and we’re winning a lot of races. We will continue to brand ourselves to new audiences. Fun Ford Weekend is one of those audiences. It just made perfect sense for JE and Roush Yates to have a strong presence with Fun Ford Weekend. They have the drag races and the car shows and we’re able to touch both of those areas, not just with our engines, but with our parts offerings,” said Sands.

JE Pistons is currently the leader in high performance forged pistons, and has been for over 60 years. The company is known for manufacturing the very highest quality pistons and components that the racing industry can depend on. JE Pistons holds an ISO 9001:2008 quality certification, which lets users know that JE provides its customers with peak level goods.

Sean Crawford, Marketing Manager at JE Pistons added to Sands comments by saying, “There is a lot of excitement internally at JE Pistons regarding our sponsorship of the Fun Ford Weekend. In fact, eight of our own team members own or race Mustangs including an original ’66 Shelby GT350, ’68 Fastback and ’90 Mustang LX! Supporting the Ford community and grassroots racing is always a great opportunity and we’re very fortunate to team up with Roush Yates to help make it possible.”