CHARLOTTE, NC – Ford Performance has put its fans on the inside track to connecting with Ford’s global racing initiatives thanks to a special 2025 Season Launch party in Charlotte that helped kick off this year’s racing season. The 2025 campaign had already scored two impressive outings just weeks prior, as Ford Performance took the checkered flag at the 24 hours of Daytona. Team Mustang scored the first win of 2025 piloting the No. 65 Mustang to a 1st-place victory, along with the No. 64 Mustang GT3 finishing 3rd in the GTD pro class. Both cars were able to reach the podium for the first time in GT3 program history.
The NASCAR Clash also took place on the same weekend as the 2025 Season Opener, held at Bowman Gray Stadium which is also in North Carolina. Ford had some great qualifying drivers through the heat races, but the real story centered on Ryan Blaney. In almost unbelievable fashion, Blaney started the 200-lap race on Sunday at the back of the 21-car pack and ended up finishing in 2nd place!
This wasn’t the first time Ford Performance hosted a season-opener gathering for racing fans. You’ll recall that last year Ford Performance celebrated its 2023 championship victories by throwing a kickoff party for fans to come celebrate 2024 successes with drivers, higher-ups at Ford, industry leaders, social influencers and many more. In addition to being able to get a close-up look at all the impressive race cars and trucks across the Ford Performance racing spectrum, fans were also able to experience the arrivals of some new vehicles for the 2024 season.
During 2023, fans got to see Ford dominate the entire season resulting in several different motorsports championships. Among them was the Formula drift championship with back-to-back wins for the Ford team at RTR, first for Chelsea Denofa and now most recently James (The Machine) Deane. A similar thing happened in NASCAR for all 3 series – the Cup, Xfinity and the Truck series. Ryan Blaney took home the Cup Championship in 2023 alongside Cole Custer and Ben Rhodes. Joey Logano followed up impressively for the 2024 Cup with Ty Majeski in the Truck series. And from the off-road RTR team, we had Loren Healy taking 1st place in both the West series and National championship in the Ultra 4 class.
All of that may have been why so many fans were excited to attend the 2025 Season Launch party on January 30. This year the event was held at the Revelry in Charlotte. Ford brought out all sorts of different things for fans to do and see on before heading inside for the main part of the evening. While just making the walk over to the venue, one couldn’t help but notice the mass influx of enthusiast-driven vehicles that filled every parking lot. Whether it was tricked-out Mustangs, custom F-150 to F-450 trucks, Broncos and Raptors -- you name it, it was there.
Every sort of Ford Performance race car and race truck was on display outside in a line for all enthusiasts to check out, get photos with them and – if they were lucky – the driver of that vehicle would be nearby for some fans to meet and get an autograph. Depending on what side of the venue at which you started, you were either greeted by the new Dark Horse R race car and GTD Spirit Of America, or on the opposite side a Ford Performance Sprint car for dirt track racing and a NASCAR truck series race truck driven by none other than Frankie Muniz. Ford also brought out its racing simulator trailer where multiple enthusiasts could compete head-to-head against one another on the virtual racetrack.
Fans in attendance could also take a chance at spinning the prize wheel right by the Ford Merchandise setup with exclusive 2025 Season Opener merch for sale as well as an opportunity to win some FP swag. Just as you went inside you were greeted with the many trophies won from the different racing programs throughout the season, plus many of the different factory drivers’ helmets on display for all to see. The Kick Off Party opened with over an hour-long autograph session with all the superstar drivers. The line wrapped out the door and all the Ford enthusiasts in line truly loved this opportunity. There’s never an event where all the factory drivers are under the same roof, so this autograph session was a real treat.
With such an overflow crowd, if you couldn’t attend in person there was a live-stream available so that people could join in online. Host Josh Denzel started off by introducing the winning drivers from the previous season and the upcoming racing programs. The big news was the announcement that Ford was to once again race at LeMans in 2027, as an introduction to the Ford Performance Hypercar program. To close the show, Josh brought up on stage corporate executives to give some positive vibes for the programs and drivers competing in the 2025 season. It was a who’s-who from Ford, including Ford CEO Jim Farley, Executive Chairman Bill Ford, Ford Performance General Manager Will Ford, plus Edsel Ford II and Global Director of Ford Performance Mark Rushbrook.
The 2025 launch party closed out with a live concert from country singer Dylan Scott. Ford Performance hosted a great event for its teams, drivers and enthusiasts, who after two consecutive unforgettable racing seasons are looking to take 2025 by storm. Take a look at the photo gallery from the launch event below and get ready to cheer on Ford Performance both on track and off road in 2025!
FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JOE DELADVITCH
