At first I didn't know what the focus of this book was going to be -- was it about Ford (and a little GM as well) or Le Mans and endurance racing? It pleasantly turned out to be both. I was a bit skeptical that an auto journalist who has never raced could write about racing in a meaningful way, but as it turned out the author did an excellent job to convey the story to a general readership. DeBord is a journalist at Business Insider, and he does a through job of getting at the executive end of a fascinating story. A chapter on former Ford elder Alan Mulally and his strategy of "One Ford" should required reading for any student of business history.
1. Bring all Ford employees together aw a global team.
2. Leverage ford's unique automotive knowledge and assets.
Build cars and trucks that people want a d value.
4. Arrange the significant financing necessary to pay for it all.
His character study of Mullaly's successor, Mark Fields is also quite revealing, and to a slightly lesser degree race chief Chip Ganassi and driver Joey Hand. The narrative really picks up as we get to the last few chapters and the 2016 race, Ford verses Ferrari, and the 24 hour saga. Was there any doubt that Ford would win, even with a disastrous start months before at Daytona? I like what DeBord has to has about it all as he recounts his experience at Le Mans:
"Racing, when you get right down to it, is about the sound as much as anything. It's music. Those engines, they grab you in the gut. It's a sacred sound, a siren cry, a raw and cruel symphony. Men have died for it. Fifty years to the day, The GT 40s hard crossed the finish line one-two-three. On June 16, 2016, the GT had almost matched that performance: one-three-four.
A racetrack is never completely silent The motors echo across the generations. I closed my eyes and opened my ears. I listened for the old sounds to combine with the new."
