The GT's interior features the addition of Jaz racing seats, Auto Meter gauges, a 10-point cage, and a Pro-5.0 shifter protruding through the transmission tunnel. We kinda feel sorry for the shifter since it's abused by the 265-pound Jay, but it sounds as though it'll get a reprieve for 2003 with Jay making the move to Renegade. He is staying with sponsors that helped him in Real Street, while picking up a couple more with ATI Performance Products and Meziere coming on board. Bob Hanlon's crew chief, Kenny Curtis, is setting up the chassis.
Still owning the coupe, Jay bought another Grand National and once again began to play with the turbo V-6. He regularly campaigned both cars at Mustang/Grand National shootouts. However, when he started his own trucking business, both the coupe and the GN went down the road. Jay concentrated on the business side of things for a while until the New Edge Mustangs came out in 1999. He even tried to order a '99, but a fire at the Ford plant kept him from getting one until the 2000 model-year run. He ordered a convertible because he had seen Racin' Jason run his convertible into the seven-second zone and because he'd never owned a ragtop before.
While waiting for his '00 GT, Jay assembled a slew of performance parts to make ready for the car's transition into a rowdy street machine. By the time the car arrived in October 1999, Jay's living room was already home to a Vortech T-Trim with aftercooler, a 255-lph fuel pump, larger injectors, a shifter, Weld wheels, and 4.10 gears. Jay broke the car in by driving it to the beach several times, but once it reached the 500- to 600-mile mark, the assembled parts found their way onto the car. With the new parts, and with the stock bottom end, heads, and intake, the car went 11.13 at the track. Jay then added an FRPP '96-'98 Two-Valve intake that he modified to fit the '99-up PI heads, MAC long-tubes and Pro Chamber H-pipe, Flowmaster dumps, and a DiabloSport chip. At the '01 Fun Ford opener in Bradenton, Florida, he ran a best of 10.91 at 128 in Mod Motor action.
All told, Jay's fastest pass with the mostly stock combination was a 10.85. He hoped to go quicker on the next pass, but unfortunately the fuel-pump sock collapsed and starved the engine of fuel, thus spelling the end after 60 brutal passes.
Jay met Randy Haywood of True Blue Performance halfway through the '01 season. Jay expressed an interest in running Real Street utilizing a modular combination, and he thought who better than True Blue could build a competitive modular powerplant. When Randy saw Jay's talent and desire, the two formulated a plan to go Real Street racing. Jay is one of the few Real Street racers running a modular powerplant. He does so because he's familiar with it and he knows its limits. And, with True Blue's expertise at the helm, he knew he was on to something.
Jay also saw Real Street as an excellent way to get his feet wet in the world of heads-up Mustang drag racing. "I never knew how hard heads-up racing would be," he says. He thought he'd be coming in on the ground floor by starting out in Real Street, but once he began racing against the likes of Jeremy Martorella, Bruce Hemminger, Gabe Large, and Joffre Lafontaine, Jay realized a tough road lay ahead. "Those guys run a tight ship," he says. But Jay's in drag racing for the long haul. He even has the goal of racing Pro 5.0 or NHRA Pro Stock one day, and he knows he has to start somewhere. "I don't know what else to do with myself," he says, "except to race."
Soon, Jay will discover how tough the Renegade class is as he is moving up with a True Blue-built Four-Valve under the hood and a Dynamic C4 tranny in the tunnel. A Paxton Novi 2000 will continue to be the power adder of choice.
Looks like Jay will be off restriction real soon.