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Ford celebrates 110 years of racing at SEMA

Ford celebrated its racing heritage in high style on Tuesday, bringing together 110 years of motorsports history with some its most famous drivers and race cars on stage at the SEMA show.

From a 1901 open-air racer "Sweepstakes" driven by Henry Ford to victory in his first and only race to the Focus ST-R that made its North American debut, the Blue Oval paid tribute to its long motorsports lineage with a variety of displays. Carroll Shelby, Parnelli Jones and John Force were among the luminaries on hand in Las Vegas, and after a press conference, they assembled on stage in a rare gathering of racing legends past and present.

"We have a lot of excitement in racing," said Jamie Allison, Ford's North American racing director.

Bill Elliot's record-setting 1987 Thunderbird that ran to 212.809 mph at Talladega that year, the iconic 1967 GT40 Le Mans winner driven by Dan Gurney and A. J. Foyt and Jim Clark's 1965 Indianapolis 500 victor also were on display. Force's Mustang funny car and Brian Deegan's X Games Fiesta were also part of the stand.

Ford also revealed a 1965 Mustang convertible body shell on Tuesday at SEMA.