Sculpture Of Henry Ford's '999' Finds New Home At Ford Racing

On display front-and-center in the Ford Racing lobby is an inspiring piece of automotive art called "Henry Ford and His 999 Racer." The bronze sculpture was created by Stillwater, MN, artist J. Paul Nesse, and recreates Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford "at the wheel" of his famous 999 race car. The bronze 999 Racer artwork sits perfectly balanced atop a special stand and rotates 360-degrees so that every detail of the artwork can be inspected.

Nesse's automotive sculptures can be found in public and private automotive art collections throughout the world. Originally studying portrait and figurative sculpture, Nesse specialized in automotive sculptures because of his life-long passion and devotion to the automobile and auto racing. More information about the artist can be found here: NESSE SCULPTURE

Prior to its new home at Ford Racing, the bronze sculpture was located at Ford Motor Company's World Headquarters in Dearborn, MI. Ford Racing godfather Edsel Ford II was visiting the Ford Racing team a few months ago and decided that the sculpture would be "right at home" in the Ford Racing lobby and would help to serve as inspiration to all those who work on racing programs.

Director of Ford Racing Jamie Allison and his group were honored to receive the new sculpture and promptly organized a group photo around the new family member.

Back on November 30, 1901 - less than two months after Henry Ford and his Sweepstakes racer won the one and only race in which he had competed, Ford and several partners founded the Henry Ford Company.But after a few months, friction between Ford and his partners arose. Ford wanted to continue racing while his associates wanted him to focus on production-car development. Parts of a letter that Ford wrote to his brother-in-law, Milton Bryant, revealed his state of mind: " there is a barrel of money to be made in this business. My company will kick about me following racing but they will get the Advertising and I expect to make $ where I can't make ˘s at Manufacturing." The resulting rift prompted Ford to leave the Henry Ford Company in March of 1902, with a $900 settlement and plans for his next race car, a.k.a. the 999 Racer.

In May of 1902, Henry Ford built the 999 racer with assistance from C.H. Willis, E.S. "Spider" Huff, and financial backing by Thomas Cooper. The completed racer had no body panels, a wooden chassis, and a massive radiator to cool its oversized engine. With Barney Oldfield at the wheel, the 999 racer won the Manufacturer's Challenge Cup in early October 1902. A week later, the car won its first wheel-to-wheel race against Alexander Winton, on Oct. 25, 1902. The car went on to set the world speed record of 91.4 mph on January 12, 1904. While Ford was neither the driver nor the car owner, he used the promotional rights from the wins to hype his engineering successes. After the October 1902 race, Henry Ford focused all of his energies on establishing the Ford Motor Company, which was incorporated on June 16, 1903.

The 999 racer was an engineering feat for its time. Power came from an inline four-cylinder engine, displacing 1,155.3 cubic inches and developing somewhere in the neighborhood of 70-100 horsepower. The flywheel alone weighed 230 pounds and was connected to the rear axle through a wooden-block clutch and a solid driveshaft that mated to an unsealed and dry ring-and-pinion gear to transmit its power to the rear wheels.

The driver steered with an iron bar that pivoted in the middle, and there was no rear suspension. Also, both the crankshaft and valve gear were exposed, so the driver not only was jolted by every ripple in the road, but also was continually sprayed by oil.

The actual Henry Ford 999 racer is now on display at the "Racing in America" exhibition at the Henry Ford museum in Dearborn.