Bowles Captures First Win for Propane-Powered Mustang

LIVONIA, Mich. – Donnie Bowles can add another item to his growing list of accomplishments as he became the first driver on the ROUSH® Drag Team to take one of the liquid propane-powered Mustangs to a victory. His win came during the August 29 elimination rounds of the 4th Annual NMCA Muscle Car Nationals at Milan (Mich.) Dragway.

The weekend started well as Bowles carded a perfect 0.000 reaction time which placed him as the top qualifier among the 36 contestants in the Open Comp class. However, it wasn’t all clear sailing to the finals.

The biggest drama of the event came during the third round when the team discovered a crack in the wishbone. This likely occurred during a Friday evening qualifying run when the tire hooked in the burnout box and the body rolled hard, but the damage went undiscovered. Fortunately, his third round was a bye run (single pass) so Bowles was able to stage, take the win light, and quickly get his car repaired in time for the fourth round.

Roush, Johnson Still In Grand Sport Championship Contention

If someone were to tell either Billy Johnson or Jack Roush Jr. (No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT) they would be in contention for the Grand Sport (GS) championship after their season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, neither probably would believe it. Especially with two races remaining.

Yet, the pair still has a mathematical chance at taking the GS title. The two have climbed to third in the driver standings on the strength of two victories, including the most recent race last month at New Jersey Motorsports Park, and seven top fives, all consecutively after a mechanical problem at Daytona forced a 37-place result, which yielded zero points.

Roush Fenway Cars to Run Special Decals This Weekend

To show support for the boss, all the Roush Fenway Racing stock cars competing this weekend will sport a special decal. This can be seen on the four NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars at Pocono Raceway as well as the NASCAR Nationwide Series entries at Iowa Speedway. We have to agree… Get Back to the Track Jack!

Roush, Johnson Go From N.J. Pole to Victory Lane

MILLVILLE, N.J. - Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. combined to lead all but four laps in Saturday's Garden State 250 victory at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the eighth round of the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge season.

Johnson took over from Roush at the halfway point of the 87-lap, two-and-a-half hour race on the 2.25-mile Thunderbolt Raceway course, and - after coming out of the pits second - moved around Joe Koenig on the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 49. He engaged in a spirited battle for several laps with second-place finisher Matt Plumb, but Johnson was never headed after he put the No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT up front.

The winning margin of victory was 1.384 seconds, the seventh race this season with a margin of victory under two seconds.

ROUSH Hula Cam: Hot Lap At Mid-Ohio

ROUSH Propane Racer - Clean Power (5.0 Mustang)

"For the 2010 NMCA and NMRA season, Susan Roush McClenaghan's She-Devil Motorsports-part of the Roush Drag Team-is fielding a freshly constructed '10 Mustang powered by a naturally aspirated Four-Valve modular fueled by liquid propane.

"Why propane? 'I was trying to find a way," Susan explains, "to tie our drag racing into the other parts of the [Roush] business, and this project demonstrates a number of those pieces-our engine build services, our liquid propane technology, paint and body services... The other reason for looking at propane is I want to take our race program and really have it stand out in terms of current events, so to speak, with emphasis on alternative fuels and concern for being ecologically responsible.'

"In the foregoing quote, Susan is referring to Roush Industries' recent forays into the business of engineering and supplying liquid-propane fuel-injection systems for the conversion of fleet vehicles (currently various Ford pickup and van platforms). The research and development invested in that fleet conversion program were harnessed in building her new race car."

Read the full story: ROUSH Propane Racer - Clean Power (5.0 Mustang)

Roush Earns Second Consecutive Pole at Lime Rock Park

LAKEVILLE, Conn. - Jack Roush Jr. earned his second consecutive GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge pole position of 2010 on Friday, at Lime Rock Park, and will lead a 31-car Grand Sport (GS) field to the green flag for Saturday's two-and-a-half hour Memorial Day Weekend Classic race.

Roush's time was 57.854 seconds (95.205 mph) in the No. 61 ROUSH® Performance Products Ford Mustang GT he shares with Billy Johnson. Starting alongside Roush will be second-fast qualifier Joe Foster in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Boss 302R he shares with Scott Maxwell.

While Fords earned a fourth consecutive pole and four of the top five starting positions, BMWs have won all four GS races at Lime Rock. With that in mind, Roush said it was important to start up front on the 1.53-mile, seven-turn track, where the leaders are expected to catch the tail of the field in a matter of minutes.

"Qualifying isn't the race that really matters, but this was a statement that the Mustangs can do very well here," Roush said. "Given the track's size and weight of the car, it's sometimes a difficult track for us. But our cars have been strong, and it showed again today."

The two-and-a-half hour GS race starts on Saturday, May 29 at 3 p.m. (Eastern).

Billy Johnson Grand-Am Blog: Third Top-5 in a Row!

For those of you who have been keeping up to date with ROUSH®’s Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC)’s effort with Jack Roush Jr. and myself, then you know that Jack Jr. earned his first official career pole position at our last race at Virginia International Raceway in the No. 61 ROUSH® Performance Ford Mustang FR500C by just 0.001 seconds over veteran Joe Foster in the newer Boss 302R Mustang.

Personally, I don’t view this as Jack’s “first” pole position in professional motorsports because he also qualified on pole in Round 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but was later disqualified for an insignificant technical infraction. You may remember this race which saw us starting from the back and moving through the entire GS field for our first win of the season, marking Jack Roush Sr.’s 400th win in motorsports. Jack Jr. is consistently showing he has what it takes to beat the best and this second pole position at VIR further shows it.

This race was our third Top 5 in a row. Consistency is the key to winning championships and that is our underlying goal this season. Consistency is even more important for us since we have to overcome a DNF at the season-opener at Daytona to climb our way back to the top of the points standings. The consistency of the last three races is a testament of the team’s abilities and performance. Though we aren’t leading the point’s championship at the moment, we seem to be the team that everyone is looking at.

Roush Jr. Scores First Career GRAND-AM Pole at VIR

DANVILLE, Va. - Jack Roush Jr. scored his first career pole position in the GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge on Friday at Virginia International Raceway by the slimmest of margins, and he will lead a pack of 31 Grand Sport (GS) class cars to the green flag for Saturday's Bosch Engineering VIR 200.

The two-and-a-half hour race, also featuring the Street Tuner (ST) class, will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Roush turned in a time of 2:03.351 (95.435 mph) in the No. 61 ROUSH Performance Products Ford Mustang GT. He'll share the front row with Joe Foster in the No. 15 Multimatic Motorsports/Bayshore Recycling Ford Mustang Boss 302R. Foster's time was one thousandth of a second behind - 2:03.352 (95.434 mph) - in a bid for his third consecutive pole position. It did, however, mark Foster and co-driver Scott Maxwell's fourth straight front row start.

Billy Johnson Grand-Am Blog: Back-to-Back Podiums!

Hey everyone, I would like to introduce myself as the newest blogger at ROUSHperformance.com. My name is Billy Johnson (that’s me on the right in the photo) and I co-drive with Jack Roush Jr. in the No. 61 ROUSH® Performance Ford Mustang FR500C in the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge (CTSCC) Series. If you haven’t heard already, Jack Jr. and I finished second in Round 3 of the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tires Series at Barber Motorsports Park. This marks our second consecutive podium after our landmark win in Homestead-Miami which was the 400th win for his father Jack Roush Sr.

The car was quick right out of the box and again we were consistently one of the fastest cars in each session. The guys at ROUSH® do an amazing job prepping the car and making everything perfect for me and Jack Jr. to do our job behind the wheel. Being quick in practice doesn’t necessarily make things easier, and in some ways it can be harder. If you are the benchmark, everyone else knows that there is time left on the table since you were the ones to find it first, while finding more time on the table becomes increasingly harder. Looking at the fastest times of the session can be somewhat deceiving. Outright speed isn’t necessarily good if you can’t keep that speed up over the course of a two-and-a-half hour race. What becomes important is looking at the average lap times during a session for us relative to our competitors. That is what is important and relevant to the race.