Michael Palugi Jr.'s '03 Cobra...
Michael Palugi Jr.'s '03 Cobra blew us away the first time we saw it atWFC8 in 2005. So we photographed it and featured it in our Feb. '06issue ("Duals Rule," p. 76). When he sent in his KOTS application, therewas no way we could turn him down. On his one-and-only dyno run, theCobra laid down 854 hp and 874 lb-ft of torque. With everydaydriveability and more than 850 hp on tap, Mike's twin-turbo Cobra hasset the standard by which all KOTS participants will be judged.
Horse Sense: Nitto Tire came on boardwith us to sponsor the '04 King of the Street competition. As part ofits sponsorship, each KOTS participant received a set of Nitto NT555tires for the front and NT555R Extreme Drag Radials for the back, in thesize of their choice. With Nitto's help, the '04 KOTS competition wasthe best yet--but trust us, we have bigger things in store for the '06KOTS, so get your applications ready.
During the NMRA 2005 World Finals, we gave a selected few readers achance to battle it out for street supremacy in our annual King of theStreet competition sponsored by Nitto Tire. If you read about lastyear's King of the Street contest ("Crowning Achievement," May '05, p.42), we threw out the challenge to find someone capable of repeating theKOTS-winning performance of Michael Kidd's '03 Mustang GT built byModular Powerhouse. Michael's GT was best able to meet the goal of5.0&SF's King of the Street competition, which isn't to pick the mostpowerful Mustang, but rather to determine which Mustang can put the mostpower down to the chassis dyno rollers while maintaining streetablecivility. That means we reward an instant cold start, a stable idle, aworking A/C, and a booming stereo, while we deduct grades for manualsteering, a non-overdrive tranny, a spool, and other race hardware.We're looking for the most streetable, most powerful Mustang in thecountry.
One of our favorite rides...
One of our favorite rides was Jessica Laney's '96 GT. Boasting aLightning 5.4 poking out of the hood, sinister-looking black Saleenwheels, and a wake-the-neighborhood side exhaust, the car earned the"Mad Max" nickname. Jessica was a few months pregnant at KOTS, and shehad no qualms about climbing over the cage to get in the back seat forthe Ride and Drive segment. (Hey, I had to drive--it was her husband,Will, who made her climb over.) Right before this story went to print,Will told us a little girl was on the way, and her name will be TaylorBrooke Laney.
For the '05 KOTS, the level of competition stepped way up from 2004. Ofthe nine 2005 competitors, five of them exceeded Michael's 551 hp, oneof them by 300 horses. But, as we mentioned, it isn't all abouthorsepower--but a lot is better than a little.
Everyone will be happy to know we encountered no issues while AssociateEditor Johnson drove the cars on the streets of Bowling Green, Kentucky.Even Daryl Walker's car, which features a Ground Design body kit, cameaway unscathed. The only thing we had to avoid was Tech Editor KJ Jonesdriving our rental while we followed in several of the KOTS cars so theNitto Tire guys could get some street action for a promotional video.
For the '05 KOTS, we had two new categories by which contestant carswould be judged. First, we added a public-opinion poll at the NMRA WorldFinals and on the 5.0&SF Web site. We did this to enable readers to getin on the fun and help "elect" the winner. Second, we decided to countthe drag-race numbers this year as well. Until the 2005 contest, EditorTurner was hesitant to count dragstrip numbers because it's the King ofthe Street, not King of the Track. Because Associate Editor Johnson washanded the KOTS keys, however, we decided to count the drag-raceportion, albeit only a small percentage toward the overall numbers.
Speaking of overall numbers, here's a breakdown of the categories:
 The good people at Alabama...  The good people at Alabama Mustang ( www.alabamamustang.com) brought its portable Dynojet to help with the Dyno Numbers segmentof KOTS. Alabama Mustang helped make the KOTS competition run smoothlyby getting competitors' cars on and off the dyno in a timely manner soall cars could be tested. Alabama Mustang not only has a portabledynojet and Superchips Custom Tuning capabilities, it also boasts aMustang salvage yard, a custom paint-and-body shop, and new and usedperformance parts. |  Daryl Walker and Michael Palugi...  Daryl Walker and Michael Palugi Jr. had the bumper covers off theirMustangs to show the business end of their performance combinations.Both cars featured HP Performance twin-turbo kits paired with stock-likedriveability--but put your foot in the water pump, and you better bepointed in a straight line. |  New for the '05 KOTS was the...  New for the '05 KOTS was the Public Opinion segment, which allowedpeople in attendance at the NMRA World Finals and people online to votefor their favorite KOTS car. Even though he didn't do well among thosein attendance, Erik Andre owned the online segment, scoring 255 votesvia our Web site. That's a lot of votes, and no--our online votingsystem didn't allow someone to vote over and over from the samecomputer. |
Ride and Drive: 20 percent
Fit and Finish: 15 percent
Public Opinion: 20 percent
We scored each car in every category, then multiplied that number by thepercentage of each category. Then we added up all the numbers, whichgave us each car's final score. As is the case with competitions likethis, the one that does well in all categories comes out on top--butyou'll have to read on to find out who finished where in the '05 King ofthe Street.