2008 Nitto Tire King Of The Street - Crown Of Treads

Scott Spandet
Word of Scott Spandet's '02 Mustang GT came to us by way of House of Boost's Erik Radzins. The HOB had done a lot of work and tuning on the car, and Erik, a KOTS veteran, knew it was perfect for the competition. Erik told us it was a big power Two-Valve; we needed at least a couple Two-Valves in the competition, so Scott's GT seemed ideal. When we received pictures of Scott's GT, Erik's assumption was proven correct. We couldn't wait to get our hands on Scott's car.

Scott says his GT has been a journey, but finding the car wasn't even on his mind when he came across it at a local Ford dealer. He was actually out with some of his friends looking for a new lawn mower. "I laid eyes on the red GT," Scott says, "and it reminded me so much of my red '90 GT, I had to have it."

Scott took 800 miles to break the car in; then added the first of three ProCharger superchargers. "I'm from KC, ya' know," Scott says, making reference to ProCharger's headquarters in nearby Lenexa, Kansas. The GT has seen engine and suspension upgrades ever since, and the House of Boost helped take the car to the next level with a new fuel system, custom eight-rib accessory drive system, and a Big Stuff 3 installation and tune. Prior to the event, Scott would drive the car to the track, rip off 10.50s, and drive it back home-but how would it perform at the KOTS? We were anxious to find out.

When we finally saw Scott's car for the first time, we knew why he fell in love with it. There's not much that's hotter on four wheels than a bright red Mustang wearing big 'n' littles. This author loves the look of the '99-'01 Cobra front end, and Scott's car makes it look good. The H.O. Fibertrends hood is the icing on the cake.

Another thing we are drawn to is the lovely sound of the ProCharger F-1C. Scott's car also gave us our first look at the House of Boost's new eight-rib accessory drive system. The drive system alone is good enough reason to have Scott's GT in the KOTS. What a wicked piece!

Anyway, back to Scott's car. The ProCharger makes a sweet sound that can be heard from two cities away, and everyone within those two miles knows what's under the hood. The sound alone is enough to make other drivers scurry for cover. However, we have a love/hate relationship with the ProCharger on Scott's car. Although we loved it, the car could've been a little quieter on the Ride and Drive. Thankfully Scott's GT features a nice stereo, so all we had to do was turn up the volume and we were good to go.

Another interesting part of Scott's car is that it features a ProMotion six-speed with a McLeod clutch and SPEC pressure plate. The clutch was easy to use, and yours truly loved the pistol-grip knob connected to an MGW shifter. We've wanted to try the MGW/pistol-grip knob combo for a few years now, and Scott's car confirmed that it's a nice setup. The whole clutch/transmission/shifter combo was right on in Scott's GT.

The GT has a cage in it, but it benefits from swing-out door bars, making ingress/egress stock-like. The Corbeau seats in are perfect for a street/strip car. They're comfortable, but really keep you planted in the seat.

Also keeping you planted in the seat is the aforementioned ProCharger F-1C supercharger. As you know, a centrifugal supercharger builds boost with increased rpm, and even though Scott's GT was docile in the lower rpm range, you can really feel the boost come on once the Livernois Two-Valve gets some revs under its belt.

As far as power, Scott's GT underwent a few changes right before the event, so we weren't sure how much power the car would make. With 22 pounds of boost on tap, Scott's GT churned out 707 hp, but it broke the blower on the second pass. With that number, Scott scored a 3 in the Horsepower segment.

Since he broke the blower on the dyno, he had to call ProCharger to order a new unit. He was able to get it, but he had to hurry up and install it Saturday morning before the Drag Race portion of the competition. He got the new blower installed but ran into problems on his lone pass, resulting in a score of 2 in that segment. Tech Editor KJ Jones liked Scott's GT, giving it a 9 in Engineering, and Editor Turner liked the car as well, also giving it a 9 in Fit and Finish.

Yours truly loved driving Scott's GT, but its driveability wasn't as good as Matt Knab's Cobra or Matt Simonds' Mach, so it scored an 8 in the Ride and Drive category. For the Popular Vote, Scott's GT scored pretty well with a 7.

What really hurt Scott's final score was his finish in the Horsepower category. Had he scored higher, his overall score would've been better. Alas, Scott finished with a final score of 66.