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Mustang Week 2011 - Perfect 10Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Mustang Fun in the Sun From the January, 2012 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords By Steve Turner Photography by Steve Turner
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If you ever needed to reaffirm your faith in the power of the Mustang, just take a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in mid-July. If you were an unsuspecting tourist, you might believe the world was as readers of this magazine believe it should be. The streets are peppered with Mustang after Mustang, and the growling and burbling of exhausts echoes off the buildings. Mustang congregate at meet-ups, both impromptu and organized. In short, the Mustang rules the streets of this beach vacation spot. The occasion for this gathering of horsepower is a little event called Mustang Week. Put together by Rodney Melton, Mike Clay, Scott Morgan, and Brad Worley, this event has grown from a small cruise-in at the Myrtle Beach Hard Rock Cafe to a week-long party for our favorite ponycar that celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2011. Obviously, this bunch of guys are Mustang enthusiast, but more importantly, they are fans of people having a great time at their events. It's that sort of passion that permeates the entire Mustang Week experience. People are simply up and happy, no matter how hot it is outside. Be it the location near the beach, or the numerous Mustang events, or all of the above, it is certainly a happy combination. It's also one that reminds your author that Mustangs aren't just work. They really are something that makes a lot of people happy, whether they own Mustangs or just like to check them out. If you aren't familiar with Mustang Week, it is not a full seven days, but five days of official events, which are often augmented by numerous unofficial events. Things kick off with a Meet 'n' Greet at Planet Hollywood on Tuesday afternoon, and the hardcore participants show up early in the morning to grab a prime parking spot. On Wednesday, things move from static displays to active participation, as the event moves to the Myrtle Beach Speedway for autocrossing and fun runs around the oval. Thursday it's time to commute out to Darlington Dragway for a little dragstrip action, but before that there's a little meet-up and Hooters. Friday is where the quick detailer starts spraying, as it's time for the judged car show. This is the event at Mustang Week, and cars fill up the Myrtle Beach Mall parking lot, both inside the official car show lot limited to 650 rides, and outside in the standard mall lot. On Saturday the same area is completely overrun by the final event, the cruise-in at the mall. To put the scope of the event into perspective, the Bass Pro Shops adjacent to the car show lot typically sees around 7,000 people or so customers through its turnstiles on a Friday. With its doors as the nearest gateway to air condition, those numbers swelled to 16,900 people moving through the door on Mustang Week Friday. On Saturday, it wasn't quite as big as 10,000 more bodies, but the numbers did jump up from an average of 8,000 on a normal Saturday to 14,810 on Cruise In Saturday. If you aren't into numbers, suffice it to say this is a big event. For now, here are some of the sights of Mustang Week 2011 to hold you over until next year.  Mike Clay of Mustang Week...  Mike Clay of Mustang Week worked with local dealer Palmetto Ford to create a themed Mustang to sell, the Mustang Week Cruiser. Car number 001 was unveiled at Planet Hollywood. The Yellow Blaze ’12 featured a California Special valance, 20-inch Saleen wheels, a Saleen suspension, a Saleen grille, a JLT cold-air intake, a Pro Dyno tune, a Grand Design mat, and various Mustang Week-logo emblems.  We saw his car but didn’t...  We saw his car but didn’t run across Jeremy Marler of Charlotte, North Carolina. If you don’t know of Jeremy, he was the winner of Ford’s Facebook contest to name the performance V-6 Mustang package. Jeremy came up with Mayhem, which took the top prize and landed him a free lease of the so-equipped ’Stang you see here. Jeremy has since really embraced the name and started a club called Mayhem Mustangs (mayhem mustangs.forumotion.net).  We had seen this Calypso Green...  We had seen this Calypso Green Fox rolling around on the Internet, but it was really cool to see the car in person. Put together by students in the Technology Education class at Dalton L. McMichael High School in Mayoda, North Carolina, under the tutelage of instructor John Butler, the class converted this Fox coupe into an electric car. The class received sponsorship support from the likes of Latemodel Restoration Supply (50resto.com) and many others. We hope to bring a feature on this car to these pages in the future.  As usual, the line for Mustang...  As usual, the line for Mustang Week T-shirts wrapped around the front of Planet Hollywood for hours. With coveted 10th anniversary shirts on sale, even the heat couldn’t keep Mustang Weekers away.  Our June ’11 cover star proved...  Our June ’11 cover star proved it could still turn heads at Mustang Week. Melvin Skinner reported that he drove the car around the streets of Myrtle Beach with the windows up and the air conditioning cranking. Just seeing this Nightmare On Any Street cruising with A/C was enough to turn a lot of heads.  Another wild ride at the Meet...  Another wild ride at the Meet ’n’ Greet was the Navigator 5.4-powered SN-95 Mustang. Obviously, clearancing the hood was a bit more cost-effective than tracking down a Mustang-friendly 5.4 intake manifold. This car put on quite a show the next day during the Burnout Contest. Day 2: Autocross & Fun Runs As much as I tried to dedicate...  As much as I tried to dedicate myself to simply covering the event, the allure of having a little fun in the Boss 302 was too much to resist. Driving the Boss on the autocross course was like cheating. The only tuning I did was to put the AdvanceTrac into Sport mode. From there it, was just a breeze to guide the Boss around the course.  Though it was a hard-fought...  Though it was a hard-fought battle in the SVTPerformance.com-sponsored Burnout Contest, but the most dominant destroyer of tires was yet again Chris Wood of Rock Hill, South Carolina, who took the crown in 2010. Over 1,500 spectators were on hand at the speedway to see the action.  This clean, gray Fox was stretching...  This clean, gray Fox was stretching its legs for the first time with its full Maximum Motorsports suspension. It looked good out on the autocross and lapping the oval at Myrtle Beach Speedway.  Our friend Travis Hill of...  Our friend Travis Hill of SVTPerformance.com was out flogging on his new project car, a Yellow Blaze ’12 Mustang with 3.73 gears and Brembo brakes. Travis will be modding this car extensively and detailing those changes on his site. At Mustang Week the car was still largely stock save for one of the first MGW MT-82 shifters, which we tried out in the Planet Hollywood parking lot. It felt great!  Ford has yet to revive the...  Ford has yet to revive the Mach 1 since 2004, but this Grabber Blue ’10 GT was doing a nice Mach 1 impersonation on the big oval. The fun runs are quite popular at Mustang Week with over 200 participants. This year they were held after the Autocross wrapped up.  We ran across this ’11 GT...  We ran across this ’11 GT out in the lot behind Hooters where the car show is held. The owner must really love Tangerine, as this color is not available from the factory. He had his car repainted in this hue, and it looks outstanding.  Regular readers will recall...  Regular readers will recall Jonathan Haymore’s Reef Blue coupe from our feature on Jonathan and his dad. What won’t look familiar is the supercharged 5.4 engine from a GT500. This concept is familiar to us, but Jonathan decided he wanted the smooth, tractable power of a modern engine and he made it happen. His installation was clean and mean. Even with the stock blower, he says the car is a blast to drive.  Our pals Glen Vitale and Scott...  Our pals Glen Vitale and Scott Boda of Steeda Autosports made their first visit to Mustang Week, driving up from Steeda’s Valdosta campus. Glen prefers turning corners, but Scot never met a dragstrip he could ignore. Along with 197 other racers, Scott made a few passes in Steeda’s supercharged Q650. The stifling heat had the car running a bit off its best pace, but Scott laid down an 11.248 e.t.  Responsibility to my duties...  Responsibility to my duties prevailed at the dragstrip, but I did throw the keys to the Boss 302 to Pro 5.0 legend Jimmy LaRocca. Surprisingly, Jimmy had never driven a modern 5.0 Mustang. He loved his experience, though heat stymied a clean pass, as his hand slipped of the ball shifter. Still, thanks to Jimmy, I was able to snap a shot of the ’12 Boss smoking the tires.  It was blazing hot and street...  It was blazing hot and street cars were not doing the groove any favors, but Caleb Skinner laid down the first 7-second pass in Mustang Week history with his turbocharged New Edge. Sadly, later in the evening when he made another hit, the car got loose and rolled. The car was roughed up, but Caleb was OK and reported for duty at the Fastlane Motorsports (fastlanemotorsports.us) display at the car show the next day.  Obviously I had seen pictures...  Obviously I had seen pictures of Mike Raburn’s Built To Cruise project over on Stangnet.com. However, seeing it in person holding court at the Latemodel Restoration Supply trailer, I couldn’t help but be impressed. One of the first Foxes to receive a Coyote transplant, BTC is clean.  If I gave out an award, it...  If I gave out an award, it would have gone to Rob Miller’s ’81 T-top coupe. The combination of the ’82 GT nose on the coupe body topped of with a T-roof is just simply awesome. Throw in a Four-Valve 4.6 swap underhood and Rob has a future 5.0&SF feature car on his hands. Nice work, Rob!  Having previously caught my...  Having previously caught my eye at Mustang Week last year, Troy Raby’s ’92 Fox again attracted the camera because of its open hood. Troy’s ride was repping for Croftgate’s (croftgateusa.com) line of detailing elixirs at the show, so it was obviously a shiny red Mustang. However, it was the Kenne Bell blower on the push-rod 5.0 engine that stoked my nostalgic fire. With 20 psi on tap from the KB 2.2-liter, the 5.0 puts down 516 hp and 546 lb-ft of torque  I will always have a soft...  I will always have a soft spot for the lines of the SN-95 Cobras. Adam Powers’ ’98 not only looks great in Bright Atlantic Blue, but it rocks a Terminator swap underhood. The combo puts down 524 to the wheels and gives Adam even more smiles per gallon.  John Long’s Steeda Q400 looked...  John Long’s Steeda Q400 looked sharp in black. The car sports numerous upgrades, including a Vortech supercharger, methanol injection, and pair of Sparco seats. Its blown Three-Valve puts down 480 to the tire. Coupled with Steeda’s vaunted suspension upgrades, that kind of power must make for a fun ride. Boss For A Week
If you're a regular reader, you may have spotted my little write-up on spending a week in a '12 Boss 302 as my daily car. If you will recall, I came away not quite as excited about the car as I had been on the track. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome car, but I missed having some of the toys like Sync and nav. Well, I fell in love with the Boss all over again during Mustang Week. I was fortunate enough to borrow another Boss for The Week. If you're going to attend this event, you have to bring a Mustang. Bringing the latest and greatest Mustang makes it all the more fun. Besides sharing a look at the latest 'Stang with Mustang Weekers, it gives me a chance to spend some quality time in the car. The events are spread out quite a bit from the Speedway to the mall to the dragstrip, there is a lot of driving in and around the events. With so much wheel time in the car, I was quickly reminded how exhilarating it is to wind the Boss up pass 7,000 rpm. Moreover, tossing the Boss into turns is a total blast. From big on- and off-ramps to the Speedway oval to the Mustang Week Autocross, the Boss proved worth its salt cutting up the corners. Naturally, the Autocross is where the car shines. It was so much fun that I had to shirk my duties behind the camera and make a few laps. People asked me if I made any adjustments to the suspension to get it to work out there. I didn't. All I did was switch the AdvanceTrac to Sport mode and had a blast. The Boss straddles the ideal middle ground between the likewise stellar Mustang GT and Shelby GT500. However, if turning corners is your thing, the Boss is the move.  There is such exuberance associated...  There is such exuberance associated with Mustang Week that more and more unofficial events keep popping up. This year marked the first annual Coyote Cruise put together by the guys at Blow By Racing (blowbyracing.com). The even started at the Hard Rock Cafe, where the cars gathered, stickered up, and hit the road for the Cruise In. We showed up with our Coyote cousin, the RoadRunner, and in total there were 28 participants for this first event. Expect this gathering of TiVCT 5.0s to grow in the coming years.  Saturday brings a more laid...  Saturday brings a more laid back attitude to the same spot that held the judged car show. We had to hit the road, but did come across some cool cars outside the confines of the show. John Antunes’ ’12 Boss Laguna Seca is as rare as a cool breeze on a July day in Myrtle Beach. It is also astoundingly capable cars on the road course. It was great to see this one out and about.  Elsewhere in the mall parking...  Elsewhere in the mall parking lot, I ran across Richard Moore’s Electric Blue ’92 coupe. It features a Hellion single turbo huffing into a largely stock 5.0. The turbocharged engine is backed up by a Lentech AOD, which makes this a street-friendly tractable combo.  One of the grand-daddies of...  One of the grand-daddies of MW-related events is the Fox cruise put on by the Southeastern Fox Bodies club (southeasternfoxbodies.com). This year the cruise met out at Myrtle Beach Speedway, where 112 cars filled up the infield. This is the biggest unofficial MW cruise at the moment, and it’s great to see these now-vintage ’Stangs still representing in such numbers.
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