Spirit of Ford Award Ceremony
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Prior to this weekend's Rolex 24 At Daytona race, Ford stopped by the museum to give a Spirit of Ford award and to showcase their new Mustang GTD #65 Racecar and GTD Street Car. Ford invited local Mustang enthusiasts to attend this event, and over 100 Mustangs were gathered outside the museum.

Inside the museum, Ford had an award ceremony to present the Spirit of Ford award to Alan Mann Racing for their sixty years of involvement with Ford motorsports. The award has only been given twenty-eight times and is Ford's highest honor in their racing program. Edsel B. Ford II was on hand to give the award to Henry and Tom Mann, Alan Mann's sons.

 

Outside the museum, the pair of Mustang GTDs were on hand, along with a great collection of Mustangs invited for the presentation. Many different generations were on hand, as well as several Florida-based clubs.

 

The pair drivers for the #65 car were also in attendance. Joey Hand is an accomplished American racing driver who won the Rolex 24 at Daytona GTLM title with Ford in the Ford GT. Dirk Müller is from Germany, and is regarded as a Nürburgring specialist, developing road car development on the renowned track. He has won in the GTE Pro class at Le Mans in 2016, and the GTLM win at Daytona in 2017. They were on hand to talk about the program and the upcoming race at Daytona and later signed autographs. We appreciate them spending some time here at the museum before the big race.