![]() It was a great partnership for everyone involved. It became Al’s mission to teach and showcase the new cars of Ford and teach people how to drive them and maintain them. At that time in the late 1960s and early 1970s there was still a serious problem with an average of 50,000 fatalities a year on the highways so this would help bring a new awareness. This team of cars and drivers would help teach driving safety thru performance clinics that had demonstrations, films, and seminars, so when the service men returned home after a tour of duty they would not kill themselves on the roads. The idea behind this new team was to bring some of the latest Detroit muscle cars to the men and women of the Armed Forces who were serving overseas. In 1970, Al headed up the formation of the Lawman Performance Team in full partnership with Ford. Muscle cars and racing were in full demand at this time and a way to sell and promote the cars. The following year this expanded to Sweden and then continued drag racing in Europe in 19. ![]() This drag racing venue opened on Easter 1966 and was the first permanent ¼ and 1/8 mile drag strip in Europe. In 1966, with the help of Chrysler, Al formed the American Commando Drag Team and worked to bring the sport to Europe to the famous Santa Pod Raceway in England. His success and background led him to a partnership with Chrysler as he campaigned a Hemi Charger and big block Barracuda thru the later part of the 1960’s. At the 1963 NHRA Nationals his car was the first to get under a 12 second ¼ mile. But as much as he enjoyed his day job, his true passion was on the weekends as a drag racer where he did remarkably well in NHRA holding several records at the time in his class. As the story goes, Al was an avid drag racer and at the same time a corporate lawyer at Chrysler….and because of his legal background this became the basis for his name as the “Lawman” on his cars and the drag strip he visited. The man who is certainly credited with being the main force behind this program was the successful drag racer Al Eckstrand. The story of the “Lawman”, and the Lawman Mustang program, actually began in the early 1960’s way before Ford ever got involved.
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