Ford's Mustang Challenge - Fight Cup

Late last year, I was one of the first media types to visit and experience the exquisite facilities of Miller Motorsports Park in Toele, Utah, and drive several super-cool Mustangs, including a little red Mustang they liked to call the Challenge car ("Dream Park," Oct. '07, p. 44). Of course, I'd driven the school's Mustang for students, as well as the famed Boy Racer, the FR500C. However, it was the Challenge Mustang that stood out in my mind. The basic Ford Racing Performance Parts bolt-on approach was taken, as the car was put on a 340-pound diet and sticky BFGoodrich RI rubber added some grip.

I had great fun lapping around the MMP road course in the Challenge Mustang; it was pretty much the ideal car for me. While taking a lunch break with former Ford Racing director Dan Davis, Ford Racing manager Jamie Allison, and MMP CEO and general manager Alan Wilson, I witnessed the group discussing the feasibility of a new racing series that would take Ford Racing-prepped Mustangs on a cross-country racing series. It was off-the-record stuff at the time, but I thought it was just a "what-if" type of conversation and went blissfully back to driving Mustangs and taking pictures.

Mere months later, Ford Racing announced the development of the FR500S, a new turnkey race car constructed there at the Auto Alliance International plant. It's not a surprise that the FR500S bears more than a passing resemblance to the Challenge car I drove, but it takes things a bit further. These cars are built without all the heavy extras and upgraded with a litany of high-performance gear, sourced primarily from the the Ford Racing Performance Parts catalog. From safety and handling upgrades to exhaust and intake improvements, the result is a well-balanced Mustang ready to roll off the trailer and take on the track.

Better yet, the Mustang Challenge series is a spec series, so you can't keep adding parts to make your Mustang faster; you have to get out there and drive the same car as your competitors-may the best man win. Such was the case when I attended the inaugural Mustang Challenge race at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, May 1-3, 2008, where 22 FR500S Mustangs qualified and 20 took the starting grid for Saturday's race. It was an amazing sight to see all those Mustangs round the corner and barrel down the front straight at Road Atlanta.

I was embedded with the Dex Racing team to get a feel for just how things work at a Mustang Challenge race. The team, led by driver Pratt Cole, had plenty of experience running in several SCCA classes, including the Escort Endurance series, which predated World Challenge. Most recently Pratt and teammate Brad Adams had run in the similar MX-5 Cup series racing Mazdas. In fact, Brad had the grueling duty of running in both classes at Road Atlanta. The Dex team has a passion not only for racing, but also for helping others. Their racing efforts are geared in part toward raising money for the U-SA Cares For Life (www.sa caresforlife.com) charity, which helps support sick and needy kids in South Africa.

Once he's on the track, Pratt is anything but charitable. His experience and skill showed as he qualified in the third spot, just ticks behind 50mustangandsuperfords.com celebrity blogger Jamie Slone, who was just behind wunderkind Andrew Caddell. That's pretty much how it played out in the race, with that trio finishing 3, 2,1, respectively. As I write this, those three are near the top in the points chase.

By the time you read this, the season will have just wrapped up at Miller Motorsports Park where it all began, but here we cover the cars and top teams from this season. This series is destined to grow in popularity, so now's the time to learn all about it.