The supply chains continue to be crippled by the ongoing chip shortage. We reported on nearly 100,000 unfinished GM products sitting in a field, and rival Ford has been hit hard on the Bronco delays along with various trucks and SUVs. Last year a stockpile of Ford trucks filled lots at the Kentucky Speedway, but now the backlog is forming again. The latest Ford bottleneck of trucks like the Ford F-350 Super Duty is rapidly growing in the hundreds.
Locals near the Kentucky Speedway started revealing row upon row of trucks parked there on social media. These Ford trucks and SUVs are unfinished and unsold, meaning they have been piling up for weeks and could soon fill the overflow lots again as they did in the spring of 2021.
"The global semiconductor shortage continues to affect Ford's North American plants-along with automakers and other industries around the world," a Ford spokesperson told The Drive. "Behind the scenes, we have teams working on maximizing production, with a continued commitment to building every high-demand vehicle for our customers with the quality they expect."
Fortunately, this time around, the backlog of trucks isn't anywhere near the 2021 stockpile at the Kentucky Speedway. The Ford Kentucky Truck Plant is around 50 miles from the track, so it makes sense to keep them rolling off the line and almost finished close by.
With 8,920 employees and occupying 500 acres of land, the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant is far from small, but it seems that all of its space is full. The plant manufactures the Ford F-250, F-350, and F-550 Super Duty Trucks, the Ford Expedition, and the Lincoln Navigator. And the assembly line isn't stopping as no reports of any temporary shutdowns or layoffs are reported.
The Kentucky Speedway is around 100 miles round-trip from the Ford plant, and a local resident claims the vehicles are being driven there. The vehicles are being stored in the overflow lots to the east of the race track, on the right side of the road in the satellite images.
The resident also states that there is another stash of Super Duty trucks in various states of assembly at an abandoned munitions factory in Charlestown, IN, just north of Louisville, KY. If the trucks are also being driven to both of these lots, the dealer miles are going to be slightly higher than normal, and it certainly would be worthwhile to enquire about a discount.
The Ford and Kentucky ties run deep since the plant was opened in 1969, so they are eager to help each other here. Evidence of this was when Ford supplied a number of F-150 Lightning trucks to Kentucky flood locations to run supplies and provide portable electric power.
