Mike Kranefuss

Mike Kranefuss (l.) 1973 in conversation with Jackie Stewart

Mike (Michael) Kranefuss (* 1938 ) is a former head of motorsport at Ford .

Kranefuss came into contact with Ford Germany while working on a racetrack project. In 1968 he took a job there in the newly formed motorsport department under Jochen Neerpasch , of which he became head four years later. His first project was the development of a Ford Capri for racing in collaboration with the Zakspeed team. The car was successful in German touring car series with drivers such as Hans Heyer and Klaus Ludwig . Heyer won the European Championship and the 24-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps with Jochen Mass .

The success of the Capri earned Kranefuss the post of European motorsport boss in 1976. Parallel to his continued involvement in touring cars, he intensified his efforts in rallying and was able to win the World Rally Championship in 1979 with Björn Waldegård in a Ford Escort RS .

In September 1980, Kranefuss took over the management of the newly established Ford Special Vehicle Operations in Detroit. In 1983 he became head of Ford's global motorsport operations. In the following years, the group was successful in the Trans-AM , NASCAR and CART series. In Formula 1 , Kranefuss worked with the Benetton team in the late 1980s and early 1990s . Alessandro Nannini , Nelson Piquet and Michael Schumacher won races during this time.

In 1993, Kranefuss left Ford and tried to found an Indycar team without success. He then entered into a partnership with Carl Haas and formed a NASCAR team, which played its first full season in 1995. In 1997 Haas sold its shares to Roger Penske and the new Penske-Kranefuss team had some successes with driver Jeremy Mayfield . In 2002, Kranefuss withdrew from the team.