It has been a weekend for racer Alex Martinez here at the Spring Break Shootout. He came in on Friday to get a couple test hits on Terminator-swapped 1995 Mustang GT. After the cruise for the Circle D Specialties True Street class he popped his car’s Tremec T56 out of gear, but noticed something different right away. After further review, he had a trans full of neutrals. Martinez was ready to pack it in, thinking he wouldn’t be able to swap it out in time, or if it would even be legal to do so. Fortunately, you don’t have to open the hood to swap out a trans, and he also had Jeff Smith, Kyle Miller, Garrett Leach, and Jonathan Whitaker not letting him pack it in for the weekend. Tremec’s Mike Kidd talked with Jeff Smith, who had a spare Tremec T56 Magnum at the track, and everyone jumped in to swap that transmission into Martinez’s ride. The guys were able to swap out the transmission in time, but Martinez didn’t have time to make any clutch adjustments. Therefore, he blew off the tires on the hit for every pass of True Street. After the True Street runs, he was able to adjust the clutch, and out of the gate for Sunday’s eliminations in both the BBK Performance Spring Break Shootout and the Tremec Stick Shift Shootout, he is back to his usual 8-second passes.
Jon Miller’s 2019 Mustang GT boasts a Whipple Gen 5 3.0L supercharger atop its Coyote engine with a RevAuto custom tune on VP Racing X85. Miller’s average in Circle D Specialties True Street qualified him for both the BBK Performance Spring Break Shootout and the Tremec Stick Shift Shootout. Miller’s S550 relies on a Ben Calimer Stage 3 D4 MT-82 transmission combined with a Vengeance Racing Stage 3 clutch to run in the 9.70s, and also make 908 horsepower to the tire.
In VP Racing Lubricants Renegade, Martin Connelley switched over from his tried-and-true nitrous combination to a Harts single turbo combo for 2024. “I built the turbo system in my barn in Eastern Kentucky,” Connelley says, when talking about the new power adder. The engine is a BES 347 owned by Jason Martin, and so far Connelley says he is liking the new combo, but it has been a learning curve. He did some testing before the Spring Break Shootout, and with tuning help from Barely Able Racing’s Eric Gash on the Haltech, they made good strides getting a handle on what the car likes. The power of the new turbo combination shows promise with a 153 mph trap speed, but Connelley and the crew just need to figure out the front half to get the car down into the 4.60s, or quicker. The car’s RPM Turbo 400 with a ProTorque converter and TRZ Motorsports suspension combined with Menscer shocks and struts will definitely play huge roles in reducing elapsed times. Here at the Spring Break Shootout, Connelley qualified 3rd with a 4.96, and he’ll be looking to improve on that during today’s eliminations.
In Vengeance Clutch Coyote Stock, Tim Matherly and Jason Sloan had the rear suspension out of the car in the off-season so here at the Spring Break Shootout, the guys have been dialing in the Metco Motorsports rear suspension components to help the car in the 60ft. Sloan says the surface here at Gainesville Raceway has been great, they just need a little more in the 60ft to be more competitive. Matherly ran a pair of 9.72s to land in the 9th qualifying spot, and will have Chad Stephens in round 1. Matherly still relies on a Ram clutch, a UPR front suspension and Strange Engineering shocks and struts.
Chris Welch made the trip down from Lincoln, Delaware, to compete in a robust field of Circle D Specialties True Street machines. His 1992 Mustang GT endured a 30-mile cruise and three back-to-back passes for an average of 8.85 seconds to edge out runner-up William Lujan, who averaged 8.88 seconds, at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout this weekend. Today the quickest True Street rides graduated to the BBK Performance Spring Break Shootout, and the quickest stick-shift True Street machines moved on to the TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout today.
VMP Performance’s Rebecca Starkey cruised to victory in the fledgling BMR Suspension S650 Stampede class this weekend with a 10.34 at 141 mph in the final round. As the owner of the first 2024+ Mustang in the 9-second zone, Rebecca and her ride garnered a lot of attention while running a string of low-10-second passes at Gainesville Raceway. Stock, save for high-octane fuel and a VMP/Whipple supercharger system/calibration, the seventh-generation stallion shows the potential of the Gen 4 Coyote. She plans to keep pushing the car to run quicker in its current form, but eventually, a smaller supercharger pulley is in the cards.
Blankenship Tuning and Performance’s Lee Blankenship is here at the Spring Break Shootout running his 1996 Mustang GT in Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle. Running a Two-Valve with a Vortech JT-Trim supercharger and a 4R70W transmission, Blankenship concentrated on reaction and 60-foot times this weekend. He thought much of that lost elapsed time was due to the car’s previous 3.31 gear so he swapped it out for a 3.73. Blankenship doesn’t have too many passes under his belt with the new gear set, but he did run a 10.24 during Friday’s test and tune session. On his Saturday morning pass, he spun just past the 60-foot mark to a 10.73.
In Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle, we don’t see too many early Mustangs in the class. However, Wes McPeake out of Henderson, Tennessee, and his 1965 Mustang aim to change that. Running an F-150 Coyote engine connected to a Mike Brunell C4 transmission, a PTC converter, a Precision Performance Products shifter, and a 9-inch rear with 4.30 gears, McPeake ran an 11.59 at 116 mph in Gainesville. His Coyote engine benefits from a Boss 302 intake, Patriot headers, MagnaFlow mufflers, MS109 fuel, and a Lee Miller tune. To go along with the car’s 11.50s, it also makes a smidge over 400 horsepower at the wheels, and that is with air conditioning and power steering.
In VP Racing Lubricants Renegade, Stacey Roby says his 2003 Cobra hasn’t been cooperating this weekend. The St. Mary’s, Ohio racer uses a RGR 5.4 with a Harts single turbo, an RPM Turbo 400 and a Merillat Racing 9-inch rear with torque box reinforcements. Keith Ciborowski tunes the car using a Fueltech FT600 on Q16, and Roby also reduced the Cobra’s weight by adding a Motor City Solutions front end and doors. Even though he and the car aren’t currently on the same page, Roby is hoping for 4.70s before the day is done.
Jason Duggar is a paint and body man by trade, so perhaps he was the perfect guy to rescue this 2000 Cobra R. Totaled back in the mid-2000s, Duggar bought the car half put back together, but it was missing many key components. Thankfully, the engine was in it, but he had to do quite a bit of work to get it back in fighting shape. More of a drag racer, Duggar did open track the car back in December, but this weekend is his first chance at drag racing the car in Circle D Specialties True Street, which rewarded him Saturday morning with a 12.88 at 110 mph. The car is basically stock, save for a modified JLT Performance cold air intake.
If Mustang parts is what you were looking for at the NMRA Spring Break Shootout, you had plenty of choices, whether it was performance upgrades or a new-to-you body panel or two. This vendor had various SN-95 and Fox sheet metal available, and hopefully none of the NMRA racers will be needing to visit the swap meet area looking for replacement body panels.
.jpg)
.jpg)