2001 Ford Mustang Cobra - Shift Delight

The guy in the middle is Denny's... 

   

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The guy in the middle is Denny's "little" brother.

The cool thing about the combination Denny employs in P/S is that its roots lie squarely in the street 5.0 arena. Great combinations that maximize efficiency and flow velocity of the passages of air coming into the engine can create a devilishly fast street 5.0. It's not uncommon to find a healthy street 5.0 car with a little hydraulic-roller and head/cam package like this that will run mid-11s on drag radials while knocking down close to 30 mpg. Good stuff.

One of the aspects of Pure Street that's often lost by fans is how much fun these guys and gals are having in just the pure act of driving their cars. Denny told us he never raced a stick car before. He drove them on the street for years, but never raced them. As most of you know, Tremec is the sponsor for NMRA's Pure Street, and you can't help but immediately acknowledge their enthusiasm when you see a Tremec representative getting a front-row seat to watch this class run. Getting that clutch just right, pulling the first two gears with the front end of the car in the air-that's what it's all about. Denny never thought that having so much fun would land him in the pages of a car magazine.

"I never thought someone like me would make it into 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords magazine. The car you took pictures of before mine was Mark VanMeter's [see "Pegging the 'Meter," Mar. '06, p. 116]. I'm just an average guy, and this means the world to me! Thank you."

In the future, Denny's car is getting a new Ed Curtis short-block, and he'll finally address his computer issues. A new EPEC, tuned by Clayton Racing, will be installed to fine-tune the combination as well as limit the factory rev limiter. And, for Denny, that's just one more step up the ladder in one tough class. "I don't race all the NMRA events," he says. "It's just tough with work and life. I can't eat, sleep, and live this lifestyle. Once the car has Ed's new short-block in it, I need to go testing. I would like the car to be competitive. I don't want to run 11.00s and go home first thing Sunday morning. With the upgrades I'm planning, it should go 10.80s with a good tune."

Denny's engine for 2005 is what Ed Curtis of Flow Tech Induction calls his "entry-level" P/S effort. While nothing is entry-level in heads-up racing, Ed has had good success with this parts combination and his fine-tuning. The stock block uses all lightweight internals (Eagle crank, Probe Ultra Light rods, and Diamond pistons) to make one mean little 310-inch terror. It taps out at 406 hp on a Mustang dyno. The power comes from the Flow Tech Induction top-end package consisting of Trick Flow Twisted Wedge heads, a custom, hydraulic-roller camshaft of less than 0.500-inch lift (per the NMRA rule book), and a Holley intake that has also been the recipient of some port work. An ignition system made up of largely MSD components, Kooks 1 7/8-inch long-tube headers, and a stock computer working a set of 30-lb/hr injectors make up the supporting equipment. Making more from less is what NMRA Pure Street racers do better than anyone.