Hosting an outdoor car event can be likened to playing Craps. You can get a lot of money out on the table, sometimes you win big, sometimes you lose big, and sometimes you break even. Mother Nature is always the one throwing the dice and Lady Luck isn’t always in her favor. Such was the case on May 7-8, 2021 for the Ford Takeover event hosted by Foxcast Media at Jackson Dragway in Jackson, Tennessee. A friend calls meteorologists “weather guessers,” and he’s right - they guessed right on Friday and wrong on Saturday.

Friday saw blue skies for a cruise around the area lead by Mustangs of the Mid-South with approximately 100 cars taking part. The cruise culminated at The Horsepower Factory in Finger, Tennessee, for a dyno shootout. Ten cars participated in two different classes: naturally aspirated and power adder. A 2013 turbo Coyote-powered Mustang put down 1,128 horsepower to take the power-adder class. In naturally aspirated trim, a 2020 Mustang GT made 490 horsepower to take the title. After the dyno awards were given out, everyone returned back to Jackson for the Friday night pre-meet at the Cinema Planet 10 movie theater.

What was supposed to be a short passing shower on Saturday morning turned into a half-day steady rain. The good part is that it didn’t stop the spectators and participants from having fun. Though not as big as last year due to the weather, the Ford Takeover event has quickly grown in popularity with the support of vendors selling Ford-centric products and Foxcast Media filming for its YouTube channel. As one would expect at any Ford event, Mustangs make up the majority of participant vehicles, although more Ford trucks seem to be making their way out of garages and hot rod shops these days.

With drag racing on hold (until the weather cleared), the car show and vendor midway was the place to be. The nice part about the rain is you could take photos of the cars with their hoods down. The bad part about the rain is you couldn’t see what was under the hood! One obvious thing was these Ford fanatics keep up with waxing or ceramic coating maintenance on their vehicles. As the weather began to clear, the microfiber cloths came out in force and the sun started to dry everything out. The announcement went out that the event would be extended past the 4:00 pm scheduled time and racing would start at 5:00 pm. Unfortunately, the track kept weeping water and it was deemed unsafe to race.

Although it didn’t turn out as planned, the laid-back atmosphere of Ford Takeover is geared more toward camaraderie among friends than it is competition. Because of that, everyone was a winner, despite Mother Nature rolling snake eyes. If you have an all-Ford-powered vehicle, make sure to keep your calendar open for next year’s event; it’s sure to keep growing!