This young lady tried the...
This young lady tried the Steeda race car on for size. It looks as though the seat could use some adjusting, but what a weight savings.
Horse Sense:
Have you ever wondered what the distance would be if you lined up 200 Mustangs? According to Steeda, the answer is three miles. That was the length of the 200-Mustang-long caravan from Steeda's Pompano Beach, Florida, location to Moroso Motorsports Park, which is a 38-mile trip along the Florida Turnpike.
We can't think of a better way to warm up our neighbors to the north than the thought of drag racing under blue skies and palm trees. By the time this issue hits northern newsstands and mailboxes in mid-March, it's likely bitter-cold temps will still be part of everyday life. Fortunately, here in Florida we can race all year long, with most tracks closing down only for the Christmas and New Year's holidays so employees can take some vacation time. But in October all tracks are a go in Florida, and each year Moroso Motorsports Park hosts its Ford Power Festival to cap the year in Ford racing.
For the '02 event, Mustang racers chose from two heads-up classes: Street Outlaw and Street Ford. The Power Festival's Street Outlaw class is similar to the NMRA's Super Street Outlaw class, while Street Ford is a radial class. The Ford Power Festival is all about entertainment, a signature of Moroso Motorsports Park. In addition to the Mustang drag racing, there were drag-race snowmobiles, jet dragsters, the Superwinch wheelstander, and Steeda's Stampede, which consisted of more than 200 Mustangs cruising together from Steeda's Pompano Beach, Florida, headquarters to Moroso. The results in the heads-up classes won't be difficult to figure out once you hear the names, but for the full skinny on the event, check out the captions.
Both veterans of these pages, Mike Saponara and Jon Anderson did battle in Street Ford, but both fell short of going rounds. Of course, once the UPR car came through Moroso's gates, not many people were picking against it. Mike took part in the Steeda Stampede and drove the GT from Steeda to Moroso. Along the way, a couple crotch rockets took on the Paxton-blown GT in a little impromptu speed showcase up the Florida turnpike. Both bikes were Yamaha R6s, but one of them had nitrous. The nonjuiced bike stepped up first, only to see nothing but taillights. Up jumped the juiced R6. It didn't fare much better as Mike's car has run a best of 9.40 in the quarter-mile on slicks. At Moroso on Mickey Thompson ET streets, Mike was running high nines at more than 140 mph with a car he usually drives every day.
 After letting race fans sit...  After letting race fans sit in the car, Steeda engineer Dan Carlson (above) put the car on the lift to educate Stampeders about the company's 5-Link rear suspension. |  Even with the company's newly...  Even with the company's newly expanded office and shop space, Steeda Stampeders still spilled out of several parking lots and onto the side of the road bordering Steeda's Pompano Beach, Florida, location. Several early-model Mustangs were in attendance, but the majority were '96-up models, with several Fox Mustangs thrown into the mix including a '79 Pace Car that looked factory fresh. |  |
 In the Street Outlaw class,...  In the Street Outlaw class, it was no surprise that local racer and NMRA Rookie of the Year Jim Blair took home the gold. Jim's '95 Cobra R basically went unchallenged and even busted out a 7.94 on the newly repaved Moroso quarter-mile surface. With just five cars in the class, Jim had it relatively easy, enabling him to skate to the finals against Tim Eichorn, where he took the win with an 8.08 at 172 mph to Tim's slower 10.2 at 140 mph. |  A regular on the South Florida...  A regular on the South Florida racing scene is Ronnie Wilson and his Kawasaki green coupe, often confused for Chris Little's drag radial car of the same color. Both rely on Wilson Manifolds/Nitrous ProFlow nitrous setups, but Ronnie may actually have the cleaner of the two cars. And both hover around the mid- to high-eight-second zone. At the Ford Power Festival, Ronnie did well until he ran against Steve Lee in round three. |  Ford racing veteran Alan Dudley...  Ford racing veteran Alan Dudley came to Moroso to drive Unlimited Performance Racing's red car in Street Ford, which is a radial class. With new turbo power under the hood, the car retained its usual winning ways by dissecting the Street Ford class with a string of mid-eight-second passes at more than 170 mph. Each round was simply another formality on the way to victory for the most undefeated Mustang in Ford racing history. |
 One thing you can't call the...  One thing you can't call the 5.0&SF staff is late for dinner. Steeda served up a complimentary lunch as part of the Steeda Stampede festivities. The menu included burgers, hot dogs, salads, and even cookies and several desserts. Oh, yeah-Steeda knows how to get it done. |  Moroso's Ford Power Festival...  Moroso's Ford Power Festival even allows the kids to get in on the action by holding a Junior Dragster class. The class is run in a bracket format with times ranging from Mike Gratton's high 7s to Ethan Doty's low 14s. The eighth-mile class was almost won by the same person on both Saturday and Sunday. Lake Worth, Florida's John Roy took the runner-up spot on Saturday only to come back and win it all on Sunday. |  Steeda's Q400 cars wowed the...  Steeda's Q400 cars wowed the Steeda Stampede attendees. To prove the cars aren't just beauty queens, two lucky Steeda employees were able to line 'em up on the track. Obviously, the faster yellow car must be the more desirable of the two. You can hear the guy in the red car saying, "Oh, man-am I gonna hear about this back at the shop." The Steeda Q400 runs mid 12s all day long, and then you can turn the A/C, cruise, and stereo on when you leave the track and enjoy the ride home. |