Sat, 16 Oct 2010, 12:38 PM JFR Paint and Graphics Department Working Overtime after Reading

Courtesy of Elon Werner

BROWNSBURG, Ind. -- With two races left in the Countdown to 1 play-offs for the NHRA Full Throttle Funny Car championship every person in the JFR organization is focused on getting one of the JFR Ford Mustang teams to the top of the points. In the wake of one of the most disappointing performance weekends in JFR's recent history the John Force Racing shop in Brownsburg, Indiana is also moving at a championship caliber pace rebuilding, repainting and re-decaling bodies for 2009 Funny Car champion Robert Hight and two-time Mac Tools U.S. Nationals champion Ashley Force Hood.

Brandon Baker, JFR's graphic designer, was already hard at work putting together Ashley Force Hood's Queen of Hearts specialty Mustang when he got word of the triple body destruction in Reading. The dedicated designer offered a response that only someone who works on a volatile 300 mph canvas could relate to.

"The decals could only hold on for so long," joked Baker after being informed of the three body explosions in Reading.

As the Queen of Hearts Mustang body is coming together it is really a combination of JFR marketing and product partners working in concert. Baker and team painter Dave Gregory will work with a variety of PPG paint products including the waterborne based PPG Envirobase HP paint as well as the Turbo AIR Drying System by Can-Am Engineered Products, Inc. Baker and Gregory have been working with PPG products for over three years. In addition to these painting products and systems JFR works with Automotive Color and Supply (ACS) for all non-paint products or consumables like respirators, tape, masking paper, sanding sponges, and sandpaper.

"We just started using the TurboAIR Drying System and it is a really an amazing addition to our painting system. Robert Hight's 2009 Full Throttle championship Mustang was the first body to go through the system. It creates a vortex of evenly warm air that spins around the bodies or really anything we put in our paint booth. You get great results and we don't need any outside air pumped into the booth which is a plus," said Baker.

"The process is a lot more efficient and ironically just like our Funny Cars the air flows at over 300 mph. We save a lot of time because the TurboAIR speeds up the drying process and no one has to be in the booth during the drying process. Dave and I can move onto other projects while the TurboAIR is working away."

John Force Racing has been working with PPG and their waterborne paint for over three years in an effort to reduce their paint shop footprint and environmental impact. A variety of the most recent JFR specialty Mustangs such as John Force's P-51 Mustang, Robert Hight's 2009 Full Throttle Championship Commemorative Mustang and Force Hood's Queen of Hearts Mustang was well as the standard competition Mustangs have utilized PPG's latest paint enhancements.

While fans enjoy seeing the specialty designs for the JFR Mustangs they may not know how much time and effort goes into every little detail. The other aspect is the sometimes round the clock, behind the scenes effort JFR team members put into making sure every sponsor gets their exposure and the Mustangs look their best.

"When you have a weekend like the one in Reading where we have substantial body damage to three bodies the whole team pulls together to get us back on track. When you are racing hard for the Full Throttle championship bodies can get damaged and our job is to be ready to get new bodies painted, decaled and ready for the crews when they get to the shop. Partners like PPG and the TurboAIR Drying System make it easier for us to get the job done for sure," concluded Baker.