The Ford "999"  is the world’s first and only production vehicle-based fuel cell race car.  It was built in collaboration with Ballard Power Systems, Roush and Ohio State University and is one of two vehicles demonstrating the potential of fuel cell technology.   Ford researchers also are supporting student engineers from Ohio State University on its Buckeye Bullet 2, a streamliner-type fuel cell-powered racer attempting 300+ mph.

“What we’ve accomplished is nothing short of an industry first,” said Gerhard Schmidt, vice president, Research & Advanced Engineering for Ford Motor Company. “No other automaker in the world has come close. We are excited to have accomplished something never before done. We established this project to advance fuel-cell-powered vehicles and to do what has never been done before; and we did it.”

Schmidt said Ford’s historic run at Bonneville will further expand the company's technological horizons with fuel cell-powered vehicles, because the use of hydrogen as a fuel could someday play a key role in meeting the energy needs of the transportation sector. The Ford Fusion Hydrogen 999 is Ford’s latest environmental innovation and is another step on the road toward commercially viable hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

In 2004, Ohio State students set the unlimited land speed record for an electric vehicle by running 314 mph in the first Buckeye Bullet, dubbed BB1.