KANNAPOLIS, N.C. – Chase Briscoe will carry a special paint scheme during Tuesday’s World of Outlaws iRacing Invitational at the virtual Williams Grove Speedway in Pennsylvania.
Briscoe will drive the No. 5 #BuiltFordProud/Huffy entry in the virtual World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series race to pay homage to Ford’s efforts to aid in the battle against coronavirus.
Ford, with design and testing consultation from 3M, has developed a new powered air-purifying respirator. Production on the devices began on April 14 at Ford’s Vreeland facility near Flat Rock, Mich., with paid UAW volunteers with the ability to make 100,000 or more.
In collaboration with the UAW, is now producing face masks at Ford’s Van Dyke Transmission Plant for internal use globally, while pursuing certification for medical use.
To help further protect health care workers, Ford is leading efforts to manufacture reusable gowns from airbag materials with supplier Joyson Safety Systems.
Ford is lending its manufacturing support to help Thermo Fisher Scientific quickly expand production of COVID-19 collection kits for patient testing.
Work at Rawsonville (Mich.) Components Plant is underway to transform a portion of the plant to manufacture a third-party ventilator in collaboration with GE Healthcare with production expected to start this week.
The goal is to produce 50,000 Model A-E ventilators by July 4 to help with COVID-19 patients.
From the driver’s seat, Briscoe has been participating in a variety of iRacing events in recent weeks, finishing second his most recent World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series iRacing event and taking a win in the NBCSN iRacing Short Track Challenge.
Briscoe took a second win last week in a virtual UMP dirt modified during the FS1 iRacing IROC Challenge, with co-sponsor Huffy Bicycles making a $1,000 donation to Children’s Miracle Network in honor of that victory.
“I’m really looking forward to the race at Williams Grove and to getting the No. 5 #BuiltFordProud/Huffy car on the track,” noted Briscoe, who will compete in Tuesday’s event as part of Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing. “I’ve raced at Williams Grove quite a bit in iRacing and I think that experience will help, since it’s one of the more technical tracks on the platform, with the tight corners and long straights.
“It will be fun jumping back into a dirt car, after racing a lot of NASCAR events recently,” he added. “The cars drive totally different, but it’s really no different than going back and forth between the two in real life. It will also be great to get back out there with some of my buddies who are full-time World of Outlaws drivers. I’ve competed with them a lot on the actual track, most recently at Tri-State Speedway in Indiana in 2018.
“This should be exciting.”