© 2006 Dwight Drum
Story and photos by Dwight Drum
Web work by Gary Larsen

Homestead-Miami Grand Finale
Time: Final race 2007
Place: Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.
Event: Ford Championship Weekend

Millions of dollars, thousands of miles, hundreds of laps, tons of crashes, scores of wins and uncounted thrills describe the breadth and depth of 38 races of NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, 35 races with the NASCAR Busch Series, and 25 more races in the Craftsman Truck Series. Then it all comes down to one long weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway proudly presented by Ford Motor Company. NASCAR works hard to make the final three days of the season the most fan-friendly venue in motorsports.

NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
NASCAR Busch Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

We'll start these final engines of 2007 with fresh select HMS images and an appropriate focus for a Ford Championship Weekend, a Jack Roush story told in his own words.

We don't have to rev up anything to get fast and steady words from one of the chief icons in NASCAR team excellence. It takes a good mind to create an organization with the impact and size of Roush Racing and that mind, the gray matter of Jack Roush, seems to race as fast as some of his champion stock cars. The Roush story is dynamic history that exceeds his humble explanation of involvement with Ford tradition.

"I just could not imagine that I would have a life that would be interesting enough that I would have had a story that would entertain a grandchild."

Jack Roush, Roush Racing

Dwight asked Jack Roush:

The career that you have had, did you have a career plan to build what you have built?

"You know the biggest challenge, the biggest fear that I had as a young man in Manchester, Ohio which is a farming community about 60 miles south of Cincinnati on the river was unlike my uncles and a lot of the other people around town I just could not imagine that I would have a life that would be interesting enough that I would have had a story that would entertain a grandchild. You wouldn't think that a 11, 12 ,13 year-old would have that thought, but that was on my mind. I thought I was faced with the most boring life that you could imagine.

"I got my drivers license. My parent encouraged me always to work. I worked in an automobile shop in a Chevrolet dealership in town through high school when I had time away from school. Went off and I got a college education and got a job with Ford Motor Company. I feel into a band of amateur drag racers that were out there just beating the bush every weekend. They taught me to race and about engines and afforded me a lot of opportunities.

"First thing you know I had so many things going as an avocation with a business I was running out of my garage not just for my own race cars, but to do work for other people that wanted the same technology that I was showcasing on the racetrack. I had to make a choice between staying in the automobile industry, staying with Ford, I actually work for Chrysler for a year as well, or going out on my own. I made the decision. I watched my father not be too successful in two businesses in Manchester, Ohio. He never was bankrupt or anything, but he just couldn't really make them go to the kind of success that he expected to justify the investment in the past.

"So I never prepared myself for business. I never had one hour of Business 101 any where, high school, college or grad school. I got organized and said 'You know I really need to put a business frame work around this containment to provide the opportunities for myself to be successful and for the people around me to realize their dreams and be paid for it and have stable incomes.'

"The first thing you know I'm in business now. You get one thing going and then you catch up with that and get another thing going.

"Our business has many things that we do, but wisdom is the river that runs through the technologies that are involved in automobile racing as the things we are best known for and the things we are best at. Roush Racing does things for the airline companies for Boeing, Bell and McDonald-Douglas. We do government work for the military, instrumentation for cockpits, trucks and armored equipment. We work for NATO as well as the U.S. government.

"We do sports equipment, golf clubs, and tennis racquets and so many things you wouldn't imagine. When you come back and look at it, racing was the thing that inspired me to a very successful life. We employ a couple thousand people and have for the last decade. We have locations on three different continents.

"I've had a great time. I had no idea that I would ever get involved with all the things that I'm involved with, but it was always the desire to go racing and the support of Ford Motor Company that made it possible."

The end starts here:

The work never ends:

More championship coverage coming soon to the top of Zoomster.com.