Kent Racing Merkur

The Merkur XR4Ti IMSA GTU race car was constructed for Ford by Dave Kent of Kent Racing in Hawthorne, CA in 1984 to coincide with the Merkur introduction into the U.S. market. Its first race was at the Camel GTU in Miami on 24 February 1985 with driver Lee Mueller. Kent Racing had previously built cars and run the IMSA GTU (Grand Touring Under 2 liter) program for Mazda with RX7's winning the GTU Makes Championships for several years running. Lee Mueller won the GTU Driver Championship with a Kent Racing Mazda in 1981. Mueller was also a 4 time SCCA National Champion, 3 time winner of the 24 hours of Daytona, and 12 hours of Sebring winner. Dave Kent's shop was known for high quality fabrication as is evident throughout the car. As allowed by IMSA rules the Merkur GTU race car was a custom tube frame chassis under some of the original XR4Ti steel body panels and custom fiberglass panels. Robert Riley, who worked for Ford at the time (and later formed Riley & Scott), oversaw the chassis design and visited the Kent shop several times to monitor the construction. The Ford 4cyl turbocharged engine was built by Drake Engineering, the Meyer-Drake descendant of Offenhauser race engine fame. Development cost of the car exceeded $225K. Only the '85 season was campaigned under Ford sponsorship. Ford funding for the GTU effort ceased after Ford's decision to move the Merkur marque up to the Trans-Am series through Jack Roush. The Roush Merkur XR4Ti's won the '86 and '87 Trans-Am, and the '88 IMSA GTO Manufacturers Championships for Lincoln-Mercury-Merkur. After the '85 IMSA season the car was sold to privateer Dave Kruse who continued to campaign the car in GTU through the '87 and '88 IMSA seasons. Afterward Cipolla had the good fortune to meet Harry Haggard who worked at the Kent Racing shop during the car's construction as the Merkur GTU Project Engineer. When the Kent shop later closed Haggard retained the files on the Merkur project. A telephone conference was held with IMSA regarding rules. Development status reports were regularly issued to Ford. Engine dyno tests were held in September 1984. Bob Riley (Ford) visit to Kent Racing on October 9, 1984 with the first track test took place at Riverside Raceway, California in October 9-10, 1984 Merkur XR4Ti introduction to Los Angeles press in January 3, 1985 The first race was the Camel GTU, Miami, on February 24, 1985. The races in 1985 were under Ford sponsorship. The '87 and '88 seasons were under Dave Kruse Racing. Track test at Willow Springs Raceway with John Morton filling in for Lee Mueller. Can ran twice later in 1985, first at the Los Angeles Times Nissan Grand Prix, Riverside, CA with Lee Mueller co-driven by Terry Visger and finishing 47th (dnf) and the Monterey Triple Crown Camel GTO/GTU, Laguna Seca, CA on May 5, 1985 with Lee Mueller finishing 6th overall in the GTO/GTU event and 4th in GTU. It was a very encouraging race and a bright future seemed to lay ahead. Then, the car did not reappear in any race. The reasons are unclear, but it seems that Ford withdrew its support, which meant that no further development could be undertaken seriously. It was a shame as the car proved its potential in the experts hands of Lee Mueller(RIP). The car was then sold to Dave Kruse, who campaigned it for two seasons as a privateer.

Lee Mueller drove the Merkur three times in 1985.