Jamie Allison, Ford Racing’s former director of racing, is moving on. While rumblings of Allison’s departure circulated in January, Dave Pericak, who was named director of the newly formed Ford Performance in December, said at that time Allison would remain and oversee the marketing side. Sources tell motorsport.com Allison will remain with Ford, but on the production side of the company. Raj Nair, Ford Group Vice President, Global Product Development, and Chief Technical Officer described the introduction of Ford Performance – and Pericak’s role in overseeing the program was “part of our overall strategy at Ford to ramp up our investment in performance and racing to take advantage of a growing market worldwide for performance vehicles.” Pericak, 43, is a Purdue graduate from Chicago who most recently oversaw the development of the Ford Mustang as chief engineer. But he honed his skills in engineering and product development prior to being selected by Nair for his new role. Pericak reports directly to Nair, which he acknowledged was “not typical in our culture” but understandable considering “how special” Ford Performance is and the importance of executing Nair’s “vision”. As the spotlight moves from the single-focus Ford Racing to a global platform with 12 new performance vehicles through 2020 the emphasis at the top transferred from an emphasis on marketing to engineering. Mark Rushbrook is currently overseeing Ford Performance’s NASCAR program and will continue to provide technical and competition-based information to Pericak.(Motorsport)(5-30-2015)
