This year the NMRA-Keystone Drag Racing series has seen Joseph Jones, aka JJ Woodbine, at all of the events as he competes in Modular Muscle with his 2011 Mustang GT that runs low 11s with mostly bolt-on parts and no power adder. We, however, are probably more familiar with JJ and his efforts in the Lightning community where he has run really fast over the years with an assortment of customer Gen 2 Lightnings as well as his own red rocket. As he competes in Super Stang the fine folks at Rhodes Custom Auto, led by Ron Rhodes, are thrashing away on a revamped chassis under JJ’s familiar red truck. As JJ told us, the goal is to run low 8s and drive it all around town, including local car shows and events.
The details have begun to emerge on how he expects to accomplish such a lofty task. The work by the Rhodes chassis shop features a four-link rear suspension with custom fabricated 9-inch housing. Up front, TRZ Motorsports built a custom set of control arms to help the truck drive straight at speeds nearing 170 mph or higher. The roll-cage is designed to help stiffen the long pick-up truck as well as protect JJ under the stringent SFI specifics for such speeds. JJ turned to L&M Racing Engines to build a 380ci Two-Valve modular engine using a SHM aluminum 5.4L engine block and all good stuff like billet crank and rods, custom pistons, etc. JJ then turned to Trick Flow for a set of its Twisted Wedge modular heads and L&M prescribed a special set of camshafts. A pair of twin turbochargers will be added to the truck once the engine is set under the hood. JJ is planning on running E98 fuel that he can get at the local gas station. The project is scheduled to hit the street and track by this fall. In the meantime, JJ will continue to have fun with his Coyote 5.0L-powered 2011 Mustang GT.
