Editing Henry Ford (section)

==Racing==
[[File:Henry Ford and Barney Oldfield with Old 999, 1902.jpg|thumb|Ford (standing) launched [[Barney Oldfield]]'s career in 1902.]]

Ford maintained an interest in auto racing from 1901 to 1913 and began his involvement in the sport as both a constructor and a driver, later turning the wheel over to hired drivers. On October 10, 1901, he defeated [[Alexander Winton]] in a race car named "Sweepstakes"; it was through the wins of this car that Ford created the Henry Ford Company.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nascar.com/news-media/2022/10/10/leonard-wood-gifts-edsel-ford-half-scale-replica-of-historic-sweepstakes/ |title=Leonard Wood gifts Edsel Ford half-scale replica of historic Sweepstakes |first=Zach |last=Sturniolo |website=NASCAR.com |publisher=NASCAR Digital Media, LLC |date=October 10, 2022 |access-date=October 11, 2022}}</ref> Ford entered stripped-down [[Model T]]s in races, finishing first (although later disqualified) in an "ocean-to-ocean" (across the United States) race in 1909, and setting a one-mile (1.6&nbsp;km) oval speed record at Detroit Fairgrounds in 1911 with driver Frank Kulick. In 1913, he attempted to enter a reworked Model T in the [[Indianapolis 500]] but was told rules required the addition of another {{convert|1,000|lb|kg}} to the car before it could qualify. Ford dropped out of the race and soon thereafter exited racing permanently, citing dissatisfaction with the sport's rules, demands on his time by the booming production of the Model T, and his low opinion of racing as a worthwhile activity.

In ''My Life and Work'' Ford speaks (briefly) of racing in a rather dismissive tone, as something that is not at all a good measure of automobiles in general. He describes himself as someone who raced only because in the 1890s through 1910s, one had to race because prevailing ignorance held that racing was the way to prove the worth of an automobile. Ford did not agree. But he was determined that as long as this was the definition of success (flawed though the definition was), then his cars would be the best that there were at racing.<ref name="Ford_Crowther_1922_p50">{{Harvnb|Ford|Crowther|1922}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4K82efXzn10C&pg=PA50 p. 50].</ref> Throughout the book, he continually returns to ideals such as transportation, production efficiency, affordability, reliability, [[fuel efficiency]], economic prosperity, and the automation of drudgery in farming and industry, but rarely mentions, and rather belittles, the idea of merely going fast from point A to point B.

Nevertheless, Ford did make an impact on auto racing during his racing years, and he was inducted into the [[Motorsports Hall of Fame of America]] in 1996.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9KOHEPbBBbIC&q=henry+ford+Motorsports+Hall+of+Fame+of+America+in+1996&pg=PA33 |title=The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently with the Culturati |last1=Kidder |first1=David S. |last2=Oppenheim |first2=Noah D. |year= 2008 |publisher=Rodale |isbn=978-1605297934 |language=en}}</ref>