Foutz Motorsports
"Stock Full" F-250 Super Duty

Story by Norm Lenhart

Photos by Pat Chicas and FMI
 

 Back in the 1800's, a man by the name of Herman Melville put pen to paper and created a rich fantasy world where men sailed the unforgiving seas in search of the great white whale. Fearsome in size and disposition, Moby Dick was the bane of Captain Ahab and his mighty ship, the Peqard, who's obsession with the leviathan from the deep ended in a climactic battle to the death.

Needless to say, the Whale won.

As we near the turn of the century, a new tale of epic proportions is unfolding, where desert racers "sail" the unforgiving seas of sand in search of another white whale. This time however, the great beast is powered by a 10 cyl. Ford, rather than plankton, and she weighs a fish or two over 6000 pounds. Here's where our story begins.......

A 3/4 ton pick up isn't the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks about a desert racer. Tow vehicles? Yes. Work truck? Definitely. But a high performance race machine? You can't be serious...... When Foutz Motorsports announced their partnership with Ford Trucks to build and campaign a "Stock Full" 1999 F-250 Super Duty in the SCORE and BITD desert series, there were more than a few eyebrows raised high. The sheer size and weight of such a brute would seemingly put it at a great disadvantage right from the get go when compared to it's lighter and more nimble brethren.

True enough, however, that's only part of the story. The added size of the big Ford results in a more stable vehicle in the whoops and in the air, while all that added weight comes in the form of beefier parts that are far less prone to breakage. Remember that in a class like Stock Full where chassis / suspension modifications are kept to the barest minimum, you need every little piece of beef the factory can provide to keep you on the race track and off the race trailer.

So you've got the beef and you've got the stability. Now you need an inordinate amount of horsepower and torque to move that considerable mass through the most godawful terrain imaginable. A stock 351 won't cut it, a 5.4L isn't big enough, and the venerable 460 is out of production. What's left? How about 10 fuel injected cylinders of Ford's finest "Triton" engine with power delivery like a locomotive? Hey, if you're gonna' think big, think REAL BIG!

To say Greg and the guys at Foutz Motorsports had their work cut out for them would be a gross understatement. While the theories behind building such a monster looked all well and good on paper, making it work, and more importantly "making it win" in the real world of desert racing was another story entirely. Adding to the problem was a 6 month deadline from the project's inception until it's first BITD race at Tonopah earlier this year.

Short on time and determined to prove the naysayers wrong, Greg Foutz, Steve Wheeler and company rolled up their sleeves, poured the meat to it, and began the Super Duty's transformation form a work-a-day pick up into a state of the art desert weapon.

Suspension / Drivetrain

The rules of Stock Full require mostly "Stock" parts in the suspension and drivetrain, but there are exceptions. While the stock springs were replaced by custom National coils and spring packs, and the stock shocks were canned in place of 8 Bilstien bypass units, the I beams and Radius arms had to remain as the factory intended them. For many trucks this is a great disadvantage, however this is one area where Ford definitely had a better idea.

For many years, Ford delivered it's "Twin I Beam" (TIB) suspension with short radius arms. They fit the needs of 99% of the truck buying public, and provided superior wheel travel to their competitors "A-arm" suspension configurations. But when Ford went desert racing, they quickly learned that a longer radius arm resulted in enormous increases in usable wheel travel, and a greatly reduced amount of "bump steer". The end result was a near dominance of the sport by the long arm "TIB" trucks that continues to this day.

While this configuration was allowed in the "bigger" classes, the rules of Stock Full disallowed these hybrid suspensions as they weren't a "factory" offered design. Unfortunately for the competition, the factory installed long arm TIB suspension of the F-250 Super Duty makes their use in the class a very legal thing. Suspended by the aforementioned National coil springs and two Bilstien "bypass" shocks per wheel, the mega Ford shows off it's long legs with over 16 inches of controlled front wheel travel - far surpassing that of it's competitors.

Out back, a disc brake equipped Ford 10.25 "Sterling" rear axle works along with National leaf springs in a "spring over" configuration, and an additional 2 Bilstien "bypass" shocks per wheel to generate over 17 in. of rear travel. While this is a fairly standard configuration for Stock Full rear suspension design, The Super Duty sports a few (class legal) tricks that Greg chooses to keep under his belt, lest the competition take note.

Engine / Tranny

With gobs of available torque in it's stock form, the monster V-10 Triton is spared from many "performance mods" ensuring it's reliability and longevity - the cornerstones of long distance desert racing. With the exception of a free breathing air intake system, and custom built headers, the beast remains as Ford intended.

Backing the 500+ ft. lbs. of earthshaking torque, Ford Powertrain Engineering works it's magic on the all new 4R100 transmission. With the days of E4OD testing behind them, Ford has turned it's R&D efforts to the tranny that will carry the F-series truck line well into the next century. With desert racing being the ultimate torture testing environment, Foutz Motorsports will be providing the Ford engineering team with the same invaluable information that resulted in a vastly improved E4OD under the Rough Rider program.

Down where the rubber meets the road, the rubber in question comes from long time off-road racing sponsor BF Goodrich. Unlike the "Project T/A" radials sported by the Class 8's and Trophy Trucks, Foutz' F-250 utilizes the production Baja T/A radials that were developed from the "Project T/A" program.

Interior

Whereas racers traditionally "gut" the interior of their race trucks to save as much weight as possible, the Stock Full class requires a somewhat "stock" appearing interior. While many of the "trim" pieces are removed, the Dash remains in it's stock location, although it's now populated with Autometer gauges and an all important race radio. Wiring for the interior comes from one of Foutz Motorsports newest sponsors, "Painless Wiring". If you've ever undertaken a rewiring job of this magnitude, you know what a pain (no pun intended) a job like that can be.

Further adding to the creature comforts of the F-250, Foutz equipped the truck with a Parker Pumper fresh air system to keep the dust down and the air clean and breathable.

To Keep Greg and Steve buckled down to the business at hand, S Line Safety Equipment provided the harnesses, limiting straps and a variety of other safety oriented components to the Foutz Motorsports race effort. At speeds of over 100 mph across the desert floor, there's plenty to worry about other than whether or not your equipment is up to the task should things go drastically wrong.

Cage and Fabrication

"If you want something done right", so the saying goes, "You gotta' do it yourself". Fortunately Greg and the guys at Foutz Motorsports are top notch metal fabricators who designed and built the F-250's cage and structural reinforcements. Considering the truck's formidable weight, that design had to be a good one, yet not be so "overbuilt" as to send that weight further into the stratosphere..

Using several thickness' and diameters of chro-moly tubing, Greg constructed a roll cage capable of withstanding a high speed rollover by a 6000 lb. truck, along with the truck's shock mounts, spare tire carriers, storage, mounting brackets, and of course, the all important undercarriage protection - skid plates. The quality of fabrication work is apparent in everything from the smooth, even TIG welds, to custom trickery like removable subframe and caging assemblies.

Ride Impressions

We met Team Foutz at the SCORE Primm 300 race course for an afternoon of photos, fun, and shock testing. Bilstien had flown in their best technicians to spend the day dialing in the custom built bypass shocks, and eliminate a couple problems that had cropped up during the truck's maiden voyage in Tonopah.

OK, I'll confess, I'm a sucker for rides in race trucks. But then again, how better to learn about a vehicle than being in it? OK, OK, it's an excuse, but don't tell Greg......

We've all heard horror stories about how punishing a "stock" truck can be. Having done several stints in a Class 9 car, I have a pretty good idea of what pain feels like, so I was prepared for the worst. Imagine my suprise when I experienced just the opposite. The F-250 rides like a dream!

Smooth is not a term one usually associates with a Stock Full, yet that's the best way to describe the truck's qualities. Steering is precise, with no wandering or bump steer noticeable. In the rough, there's little doubt that you're in one seriously large piece of equipment, yet that size and weight work to the Ford's advantage. Rather than skip buggy style over the rocks and whoops, the truck stays glued to the ground, and while it gives up large amounts of wheel travel and pure performance to a class like the Protrucks, it does in fact compare favorably.

The real shocker is airtime. Believe it or not, it is possible to get this monster off the ground, and when you do, break out the tape measure! During the photo shoot for this article, we managed to talk Greg and Steve into lettin' it all hang out over the grandstand jump at the Primm course. After a couple of warm up bunny hops, Greg launched the great white wonder a measured 56 feet. Yes, you read that right, 56 feet. The landing definitely used every inch of travel that National and Bilstien could muster, but the truck remained in total control with no unwanted theatrics to mar the event. While it's highly unlikely that the truck will ever see such arial antics in the heat of battle, Greg now knows that should the need arise, the Ford is well up to the task.

With Ford now offering a large purse in the BITD series and competition in Stock Full growing by the race in every series, Foutz Motorsports and the great white F-250 may soon find themselves pursued with a vengeance, as was their fictional counterpart before them. Yet one has to wonder; With top shelf driving talent, a ready and willing pit crew, and a bevy of quality sponsors doing their best to support the effort, will the whale win again? History has a tendency to repeat.........

Foutz Motorsports would like to take this opportunity to
thank their many fine sponsors...

Want to tearn more about Foutz Motorsports and the F-250 Super Duty? Be sure to check out Foutz Motorsports Online @

http://www.foutzmotorsports.com

...and tell'em Off-Road.com sent ya'!