NASCAR champion Joey Logano teaches you how to drive a Ford Model T
Joey Logano is best known for driving the number 22 Ford Mustang GT stock car for Team Penske Ford. But the 30-year-old NASCAR racer’s personal car collection, which he has been showcasing in his “Carography” YouTube video series, is fairly eclectic. The oldest car in the collection is a 1924 Ford Model T, which is about as far from a NASCAR stocker as you can get, but Logano says it is his favorite to drive. The process to do so is somewhat unusual, however, so in his latest video, Logano shows how it’s done.
The T has a four-cylinder engine with 20 horsepower and a two-speed manual transmission, but what makes it challenging and fun for this modern-day racer is that the driving procedure is “backwards of everything you typically do in your car.” That starts with the way it starts. Or, first, the way you check the fuel level — by removing the front seat cushion, opening the cap on the gas tank that’s underneath and peering inside. Convenient. Turn the key one way, then the other, to switch on the coil then the magneto. Give it some throttle, set the handbrake, then it’s time for the crank starter. Pull up, and she starts. Eventually.
Once up and running, you have a throttle lever on the steering column instead of an accelerator pedal; oh, and on the other side there’s a lever to adjust the timing, which the driver also has to do. The pedal arrangement is also novel to anyone who’s used to a modern car, with the brake on the right, a reverse pedal in the center, and the clutch on the left. “That’s what makes it so much fun to drive this thing. It’s not natural to what you typically do.”
The Model T is neat, but some of the other cars in Logano’s collection are much wilder. We’re digging the ’61 Ford Econoline pickup that Logano had customized into a camper, which starred in Episode 1. And the ’56 Ford sedan deliver from Episode 6 is also pretty cool. And they’re both probably easier to drive.
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