2009 Mustang Week - Marque Week

Closing out the evening at the speedway was the popular burnout contest. Much to the delight of the crowd, this quickly transformed from a simple static burnout contest into an amateur fusion of John Force burnouts and Vaughn Gittin Jr. drifting.

Drag Night
Local horsepower heroes Fastlane Performance had plenty of cars represented at Mustang Week. Caleb Skinner wowed the drag-night crowd in his 8-second '95 Saleen. The flamed racer features a 360ci Dart block, Edelbrock Super Victor intake, Twisted Wedge heads, a Garrett 98mm turbo, and more. Caleb seemed to be one of the few drivers with a big-power car to get a handle on the starting line at Darlington Dragway.

This blacked out New Edge featured Roush bodywork and wheels, and its driver was obviously experienced, as he drifted around the autocross. Apparently that NASA sticker on the window wasn't just for decoration

Drag night was a big success, with 189 cars making runs down the track and 1,400 spectators soaking in the action in test 'n' tune, Street Car (Naturally Aspirated), Street Car (Power Adder), Weekend Warrior, and All-Out classes. A familiar face in the Weekend Warrior class was King of the Street alum Alan Hurley in his twin-turbo, Three-Valve S197, which features a billet-bolstered 281ci short-block, Fastlane Stage 3 ported heads, twin 67mm turbos, and a Logan intake. It puts down more than 800 hp to the rear wheels.

Car Show
Rolling into the Colonial Mall parking lot on Friday morning, I was blown away by the Mustangs filling the show field and crowding the rest of the parking lot for unsuspecting mall shoppers. According to the Mustang Week staff, the show was a sellout at 600 cars and 500 additional Mustangs on the property. All told, they said there were 5,000 people participating in and checking out the show. After perusing the massive row of 40-plus vendors, the first "car" that stopped me in my tracks was this '79 Pace Car pedal car. I've never seen one of these. Owner Bill Puck says he has a matching full-size Pace Car back home in Colorado.

I first spied this clean '87 GT with T-tops in the hotel parking lot. Boy, did it make me yearn for the Fox 500. Jason Froelich's ride is mildly modified, but the mods are tasteful, the presentation is clean, and it has T-tops! All that was enough for Jason to take home an Award of Excellence from the show.

Trisha Newberry's son is pretty lucky. Not only does his mom have a sweet '05 GT, but he won this Cervini's Power Wheels, which looks a lot like mom's ride. I sure hope mom shared her Award of Excellence, because I bet the sweet Power Wheels helped the cause.

Pure Power Motorsports showed off its Signature Editions commemorating Super Stock drag racing legends Hubert Platt and Randy Payne. These wild rides are powered by either a twin-turbo 4.6 or a monstrous, old-school FE big-block. PPM has big plans for these cars-to build at least 70 of these tribute cars, as the first 70 will be painted Vista Blue with "The Going Thing" stripes. You can learn more about these Shadrachmustang.com.

Most true-blue Mustang fans love Ford's Special Vehicle Team, but to have the outfit's logo tattooed on the back of your neck shows the sort of dedication that most car companies can only dream of.