Career
Born in Morristown, Tennessee. Ford"s racing career began in the late 1980s when he worked at SABCO Racing under the direction of Gary Nelson, who now works as National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing"s vice president of research and development. Ford’s duties included a little bit of everything, including suspension work and car set-up.
Before joining Elliott’s team, Ford worked as a mechanic and jackman with Jarrett and Yates from 1996-1999.
In 2000, he worked as crew chief in the last year of Elliott’s tenure as an owner/driver. Ford was crew chief for Dale Jarrett at Robert Yates Racing during the entire 2004 season and 11 races in 2005 season.
Ford hired Russian Salerno as his Pit Crew Coach in 2004 to help with pit crew performance. Ford lead Jarrett to a victory in the 2004 Bud Shootout at Daytona International Speedway.
Ford was hired as crew chief for Denny Hamlin and the Joe Gibbs Racing #11 team in 2005.
Mike worked with Denny full-time in 2006 winning the Budweiser shootout, and sweeping both races at Pocono. Ford and Hamlin never missed the chase in the 6 years paired together. On December 6th, 2011 Joe Gibbs Racing released Ford.
On April 30, 2012, he replaced Greg Erwin as crew chief for the Number.
43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, driven by Aric Almirola, for the rest of the 2012 season. On September 10, 2012, Richard Petty Motorsports announced changes to its crew lineup.
Ford became the new crew chief for the #9 Ford, driven by Marcos Ambrose, while Ambrose"s crew chief, Todd Parrott, would become the new crew chief for the #43 Ford. On October 30, 2012, Richard Petty Motorsports announced that Ford was no longer with the organization and was replaced by Drew Blickensderfer at the #9 Ford.
In December 2012, Ford was hired to act as competition director for BK Racing.
In December 2012, Ford was hired to act as competition director for BK Racing, though he returned to a crew chief role for the 2016 Daytona 500 with BKR, working as Robert Richardson, Junior."s crew chief