writer: Dr. Jamie Meyer
photographer: Dr. Jamie Meyer
Mustang racing has entered an important stage of its existence. The huge push of performance momentum from the 5.0 LXs and GTs in the mid-'80s was continued by the modular movement of the late-'90s. But you can't overlook the people who build and-more importantly-race these cars. You see, without all the hullabaloo of Ford-only heads-up racing, aftermarket manufacturers wouldn't be quite as hard-pressed to build killer performance parts to soup up the "ol' hot rod Mustang," as John Force referred to them.
So, the importance of keeping those racers, as well as drawing interest from fresh, new racers, is important in continuing this Mustang thang. The problem is that the racers who started this all a decade or so ago are reaching their mid-to-late thirties (just ask Editor Turner). With that comes career obligations as well as family and financial concerns-all noble activities, but the result is a loss in Mustang talent. It's for these reasons that we get so excited when we see new cars coming into our community that are backed by new racers and new teams.
Last summer, we caught up with Brandon Dominy, of Bacliff, Texas, while he mopped up the Outlaw class at The Clash of the Titans in San Antonio. At the ripe, old age of 26, Brandon is one of those young racers who should not only help fill out the ranks of one of the top classes in Mustang drag racing, but who will also likely continue to raise the caliber of competition overall. In 1996, he bought the '93 notchback you see here, never imagining things would turn out the way they have.
"I never thought this car would be like this," Brandon says. "I grew up around racing. My dad, my uncle ... everyone around me races. I thought I would just street race this thing for a while, and that would be it."
What happened was that Brandon quickly fell in love with the way the little Mustang responded to simple, common hot-rod modifications that his family had been using on their drag cars for years. He street raced the car heavily in the early days with a set of slicks, a gear change, a custom camshaft, and an Edelbrock intake helping secure the victories. He thought about how to go up the ladder-taking on tougher competition-and he began by planning on upping the cubic inches.
By selling the undamaged 302 the car came with, Brandon quickly parlayed that money into the basis of a serious combination. In 1999, the car made its first appearance at a dragstrip. It sported a basic 351-inch combination with Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads, a carburetor, and an NOS plate system. It ran a 10.06 that night.
"We sprayed a 200 shot on that combo," Brandon says. "The 351 was just a stock Ford bottom end. And that didn't last too long. We broke the crank bad, and the motor was gone. It took me two years to recover from that, but I started by buying an R block and a set of Yates heads. It was a long time coming back."
And when Brandon comes back to the track, he's tougher than the time before. While getting used to his new 404-inch, twin-fogger combination, he has run 8.20s at more than 167 mph. Besides the good performance numbers, he's also gathering up valuable experience on The Clash of the Titans circuit, battling the likes of Mike Murillo, John Urist, David Marroquin, Chip Havemann, and Carlo Catalanotto.
You might be questioning the stock suspension and outdated chassis, but Brandon has already updated the '93 to 25.2-certified NHRA chassis specs.
In addition, he and his family are constructing a new '03 body-in-white SSO car to compete sometime in 2004. That chassis already holds a 25.2 NHRA chassis certification and features a full Funny-Car cage, a 9-inch rear, and a ladder-bar suspension. The plan is for Brandon to use this updated 417-inch nitrous combination to set up the chassis and gather more experience in the mid-seven-second zone. At the end of 2004, look for the car to quickly reappear with one of Brandon's backup motors being reengineered wearing a turbocharger. Sounds like a solid plan, doesn't it?