Pat Di Marco may not be familiar to most motorsport fans, but mention his name to anyone associated with Ford Racing’s NASCAR program, and they’ll know exactly who you’re talking about.
That’s because for most of the last 32 years, Di Marco has been the man behind the curtain, serving as the day-to-day liaison between Ford, NASCAR, and its race teams overseeing engineering tasks that range from technical support like wind tunnel and simulator time to designing new vehicles for competition.
Di Marco recently announced his retirement from Ford after leading the racing program to a combined 704 NASCAR victories across its top three series and 29 championships.
“In many ways, Pat has been the pillar for the Ford Racing NASCAR program all these years, and the way in which he’s gone about it is commendable,” said Mark Rushbrook, director of Ford Racing. “When somebody finds their passion for something they love and does it so well for as long as Pat has, that is a big part of what we need to celebrate.
“When I came to Homestead in 2013 to start getting immersed in NASCAR, I didn’t know anyone, but Pat knew everybody,” Rushbrook continued.
“It didn’t matter if it was Roger Penske or Richard Petty or the Wood Brothers. He knew every mechanic, every media and marketing person — and it didn’t matter if they worked for Ford, Chevy, or Toyota.
"He literally knew everybody, so that impressed me that very first weekend and continued to be true for these 12-plus years that I’ve been working with him.”
Di Marco started his career at Ford in 1995 as part of the Ford College Graduate program after earning his master’s degree in engineering from The Ohio State University.
He spent his first year working on data acquisition and ride-handling development, but shortly thereafter accepted a full-time opportunity to work with the Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) team in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
“I’ve been living the dream,” Di Marco said. “I went to the Indianapolis 500 when I was 11 years old in 1982, and at the time watched the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history between Gordon Johncock and Rick Mears.
"I said to my dad, ‘I want to be one of those guys down there some day’ — and 14 years later, when I walked into the Truck Series garage at Watkins Glen on July 1, 1996, I was.”
He credits that Indianapolis 500 race, along with a lifelong love for playing ice hockey, as the driving forces that produced his competitive spirit.
They are what keeps him going in life. Without that inner drive, he says you can’t survive in professional sports because second place doesn’t mean anything. It’s all about winning.
Di Marco also had a brief stint in open wheel racing, working simulation for Team Rahal and driver Kenny Brack in 2000 before returning to NASCAR.
“This has been a rollercoaster because it’s racing," he said. "You experience the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, but it teaches you a lot about yourself and a lot about teamwork, people, and life.
“When Joey Logano won the championship in 2018 after such a long drought, that was one of my most memorable moments. Another was being part of Jack Roush winning his first Cup championship with Matt Kenseth in 2003 and again with Kurt Busch in 2004.
“I had the highest of highs as a resident engineer with Roush Racing in the early 2000s, but then to wait 14 years until we got another one was tough.
"All you can do is keep your head down and keep digging. We proved that if you work hard enough, and you put the right people and partners together, success will come — and it did.”
Rushbrook, who began his tenure with Ford Racing in 2014, also remembers the moment Logano won the first of his three championships and the meaning it had for everyone associated with Ford.
“Pat was on the roof of one trailer, and I was on the roof of another, so when Joey won, Pat was the guy I wanted to go celebrate with and congratulate the most because I knew how much it meant to him and how long and hard he had worked for that,” Rushbrook said.
“That 2018 championship was fantastic for the company and for me in my role, but to see how much it meant to Pat still makes me emotional to this day.”
Other highs during his tenure were nine Daytona 500 victories, including Trevor Bayne’s storybook win in 2011 with the Wood Brothers, and a 2023 season that saw Ford win all three series championships in the same year for the first time in its long and storied history.
Di Marco also helped usher in three new car models to the Cup Series with Taurus in 1998, Fusion in 2006, and Mustang in 2019.
“Ford is a family company,” he said. “My thanks to Ford and the Ford family for giving a kid from Cleveland, Ohio, the opportunity to live his dream. Along the way, I hope we provided some thrills and enjoyment to not only the Ford employees, but also all Ford fans out there, because that’s what we’re here to do. We’re here to win, and when we do, everybody is happy.”
It’s estimated that Di Marco traveled more than 900,000 miles to attend NASCAR races throughout his career.
In a sport that conducts 38 race weekends every year from February to November, to call it a grind is an understatement.
“It’s going to be a massive undertaking to find somebody to replace Pat because he’s been the bedrock and the foundation we’ve leaned on. It's a big hole to fill,” Rushbrook said.
“It’s a very important job because we’re committed to NASCAR. We want to be in NASCAR forever and win races and championships, and we need somebody in the job that can carry it forward.”
Di Marco plans on continuing to satisfy his need for speed in retirement by piloting a variety of snowmobiles, jet skis, and airplanes on his now-free weekends.
He also plans to spend more time at the ice rink playing beer league hockey.
Dan Zacharias writes for the Ford Performance Communications team.
