Larry Rehagen in his Pinto at Waterford Hills, 1979 (John Gacioch)

Larry Rehagen at the 1981 Runoffs at Road Atlanta (Mark Windecker)

Larry Rehagen in his Thunderbird, 1984 Runoffs at Blackhawk Farms (Mark Windecker)


Columbus 1988 IMSA Firestone Firehawk race (Mark Windecker)

Engine change at Mid-Ohio 2004 (Rehagen Racing)

Rehagen Racing Mustangs at Mid-Ohio 2004; Ken MacAlpine, Larry Rehagen, and Dean Martin would finish 2nd (Rehagen Racing)

Dean Martin and Larry Rehagen with their first S179-chassis Mustang race car at Mid-Ohio 2005 (Brian Phillips)

Dean Martin behind the wheel at VIR 2009 (Wes Duenkel)

Rehagen Racing celebrates their Grand-Am GS championship at VIR 2009; Ken Wilden earned the driver's championship (Wes Duenkel)

What do Ford Motor Company engineers do in their spare time? Go racing! At least that's what Rehagen Racing's partners Larry Rehagen and Dean Martin do. Over the past 30 years, Rehagen Racing's staff has been comprised primarily of current and ex-Ford Motor Company employees. Their intimate knowledge of Ford Mustangs has no doubt factored into their success.

Larry Rehagen joined Ford engineering fresh out of University of Missouri-Rolla in 1976. After completing a driving school at Waterford Hills, Rehagen started club racing his Ford Pinto. The following years saw Rehagen racing turbocharged four-cylinder Mustangs and Thunderbirds. Clearly the most memorable moment for Rehagen was, "Rolling my Thunderbird Turbo Coupe at Road America." Rehagen was apexing the infamous "Kink" full-tilt when a rear axle flange broke, sending the T-Bird and its driver-barrel rolling off the track. The incident surely taught the young engineer a valuable lesson about "fatigue failure."

In 1986 Rehagen entered a Mustang in his first professional race, the IMSA Firehawk Series at Road Atlanta. He's been streetstock racing since. Through twenty-four years of professional racing, Rehagen saw the series change from Firehawk to Motorola cup, Grand-Am Cup, KONI Challenge, and finally Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. In fact, Rehagen has arguably been with the series longer than any current competitor. One could say he "came with the paddock." Aside from a brief fling with a Pontiac team in the early 90's, Larry Rehagen has faithfully raced Fords. (After all, the company signs his paychecks.) As a Ford Powertrain Systems Analysis Technical Specialist, Larry Rehagen is entering his 34th year with the company and he shows no signs of retiring—from work or racing—any time soon.

 Larry Rehagen met Dean Martin at Ford. As a Vehicle Dynamics Development Engineer with Ford's Special Vehicle Team (SVT), Martin was responsible for the handling characteristics of the SVT Mustang Cobra, SVT Focus, and SVT Lightning. Having a feel for handling behavior wasn't just a talent— it was his job. The team immediately benefited from Dean Martin's "Midas Touch" for suspension set-up: his first weekend crewing with the team netted Rehagen Racing its first podium at Road America in 2000. Martin formally joined the team for the 2003 season. He recalls, "Given our budget, we only planned to run four races. We finished second the last two races so with the prize money we were able to run two more races and win the season finale at Daytona." The win was especially satisfying because the car was finished in Daytona's parking lot the night before practice.

Rehagen Racing embraced the new S197-chassis race car in mid-2005 when they built a car in-house to FR500C specifications. A short time later, Dean Martin left Ford to dedicate his efforts to the race team. Since then, the notorious grabber orange Mustangs have steadily climbed the season standings as the team found the FR500C's sweet spot.

Prior to last season, Canadian Ken Wilden raced with the team sporadically, culminating in a win at Mid-Ohio in 2007. The win helped bring Wilden on board for the 2009 season. Like most private teams, Rehagen Racing is on a tight budget, and making the next race requires a good finish at the last—without repair bills. Fortunately, the worst finish for Wilden and his co-driver Dean Martin was 8th at New Jersey;  the season  saw the duo visit the podium four times and the winner's circle twice (Mid-Ohio and Laguna Seca). The team's consistency and masterful pit stops netted Rehagen Racing its first team championship with a car that never saw the body shop. Wilden clinched the driver's championship alone, as Martin sat out Homestead- to allow Rolex-series star Ozz Negri perform in front of his hometown crowd.

The knowledge they've acquired through decades of racing Ford's pony car not only increases their chance of success each race weekend, but has culminated in the development of their turn-key club racing/track day cars. The Team continues to campaign there FR500C Mustangs, but has now added the BOSS 302R and 302S platforms to their arsenal for the 2011 & 2012 seasons. These cars are designed to be competitive in the NASA American Iron and Continental Tire Grand Am GS series. Proving this was Jason Vonkluge's entry of a RR prepped BOSS 302S, that ran down the leaders and took home a 1st place finish at the Opening SCCA World Challenge GTS race in St. Petersburg, FL. All new BOSS Mustangs are available for purchase at Rehagenracingproducts.com and built to customer request. Looking back, it's grown beyond simply a "weekend at the races" for Larry Rehagen and this band of Ford ex-patriots—but it's worth every busted knuckle.