1988 Ford Mustang GT - Match Racing

The car's first engine was a budget 347 with a C4 transmission, but the stock block couldn't handle the amount of nitrous running through it. That combo was good for naturally aspirated 10.70s and 9.40s on the spray. "After many rounds of abuse, the stock block gave up, taking everything with it," Philip says. "We did salvage the heads." Those same Canfields are still on the car.

These days Sheila relies on a Windsor/Powerglide combination. Philip, who works at ATS Performance [(803) 786-7766], built the engine after Honeycutt Machine took care of any necessary machining issues. With the Windsor/Powerglide combo, Sheila has run a naturally aspirated best of 10.33 at 129 mph and a 9.17 at 147 mph freshly squeezed. Kooks headers are the only changes since these photos were taken.

After running through oil at the dragstrip and hitting the guardrail, the '88 coupe was due for a paint job. The new color is DuPont Spanish gold. "I told Sheila to pick out the ugliest color she could find to make the car different," Philip says. "When I saw it I said no way, but you can see who won that debate." Different it is, and we must like 'em like that because we were instantly drawn to the car when we first saw it at the '02 NMRA World Finals at Bowling Green, Kentucky. Of course, it couldn't have anything to do with the use of Bogart Drag-On Star 3 wheels at each corner. Aside from the wheels, the only other exterior upgrades include a 6-inch cowl hood (bought used) and a Mid-South Race Products Pro Eliminator wing.