TULSA, Okla. – How do you tame a bunch of wild horses? Controlled exercise is one way, especially if the horses are Mustangs, as in Ford’s famed pony car. Road racing is one way, going around curves and such; drag racing is another, blasting off in a straight line; plus a big cruise, meandering to a location to park the cars so that everybody can visit; and a big, old-fashioned car show to show off, where certain cars and their drivers might just get an award in the form of a plaque.

That, in a nutshell, is the Mid-America Ford & Shelby Meet, now in its 45^th year. The formula works, so why mess with it? It worked so well for 2019 that the Tulsa meet set records for attendance and for the number of cars registered, and just out horsing around.

Mid-America refers to a large, somewhat undefined area between the Pacific and Atlantic, where there are miles and miles of room to roam. It also refers to the mega Ford event in Tulsa, Oklahoma, held every June, which for 2019 happened to run from Thursday, June 13^th through Sunday, June 16^th. It’s been such a success that just mentioning the word “Tulsa” to a Ford guy automatically refers to this annual show and not some big city in Mid-America.

The show has turned into a kind of Blue Oval tradition for some folks, as in the early registration people who arrived a full day early on Wednesday to the host Southern Hills Marriott on Tulsa’s 71^st Street. A few blocks away, the Arkansas River winds towards downtown, site of the big cruise on Thursday evening. The end destination for the cruise is the bricked streets of downtown’s Brady Arts District, filled with quaint little shops like Ida Red and Spinster Records, and Glacier Confection, as well as plenty of eateries.

To participate in the road racing, Mustangs traversed some 35 miles to Pawnee County, west of Tulsa. They maxed-out the grid this year, with 125 cars entered for the Thursday and Friday track sessions. Group 1 was set up for race-prepped Fords, Group 2 was for the intermediary level drivers, and Group 3 was for the beginners. Races -- yes, they are, but the official name is “exhibitions” -- as in the Vintage Exhibition Race and the Late Model Technology Race were featured late Friday afternoon.

Drag racing consumed a full seven hours on Saturday, from 2 p.m. all the way until 9 p.m. For the record, Kenny Robinson of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, ran a 10.25-second run @ 135.81 MPH in his ’65 Mustang to win the fastest ET class (all bracket racing) up to 11.50 seconds. Runner-up was Mitch Whitfield from Van Buren, Arkansas, in a ’68 Mustang. He ran a 9.40 @ 141.58 MPH. And the person that won the Tommy Byers Low ET of the event was Mike Stacy from Owasso, Oklahoma, in a ’66 Ford Fairlane. He went 8.99 @ 150.46 MPH!

As is the norm, the 2019 Tulsa meet closed with the big car show on Sunday at the host hotel, which was rounded out with vendors that included Shelby-American from Las Vegas and Ford Motor Company. You can bet that the 2020 Mid-America Meet is already on the radar of Ford fans from coast to coast.

FORD PERFORMANCE PHOTOS / COURTESY JERRY HEASLEY