Archive for February, 2007

If there’s one Mustang worth looking forward to, it would have to be the 2007 Saleen/Parnelli Jones Limited Edition. We were first given a small glimpse of this long awaited vehicle at the New York Auto Show last year. This limited edition pony was given a retro style to it, which we can easily see when we look at the orange paint, black stripes, and the chrome around the grille and rear lights.

‘FMJ’, the most recent H&R Mustang project, debuted at the 2006 SEMA Show with huge success. Drawing from a rich heritage of high performance Ford Mustangs, the H&R ‘FMJ’ project – short for “Full Metal Jacket” which is a type of bullet – is inspired by the 1960’s movie Bullitt and its namesake Ford Mustang. The subtle ‘less is more’ styling of the Bullitt era is embodied by the ‘FMJ’ project. Subtle styling cues include the custom black satin finish Shelby billet grille and California front spoiler with custom purpose built front splitter. In the back of ‘FMJ’ a carbon fiber rear lip hides the factory third brake light and an integral LED brake light has been seamlessly integrated into the rear of the awesome all-glass Glassback roof. This “subtle”, yet distinct, H&R built Mustang is most notably set apart from the pack of gaudily painted and stickered custom Mustangs with its restrained light grey paint – a 1950’s Porsche 356 Speedster color.

Jack Roush had the vision, and the ROUSH Stage 3 BlackJack Mustang is the result. He personally developed the content of this black-on-black car, and a prototype build was his vehicle of choice while at many of the NASCAR Nextel Cup events during the 2006 season. That particular Mustang recently ended up on the Barrett-Jackson auction block as an extremely collectible one-of-a-kind car. Now, ROUSH Performance is set to offer a limited edition run of 100 ROUSH Stage 3 BlackJack Mustangs, all of which have been pre-sold through their ROUSH-authorized Ford dealer base.

This summer, four hundred cars will begin a 2900 mile cross country race contest, originating from Miami, Atlanta, Washington DC and New York. Inspired by Erwin G. “Cannonball” Baker, who set 143 American distance records, including a 53½ hour coast to coast solo drive averaging over 50 mph in 1933, and brought back to life by Tim “Maverick” Porter in 2001 - drivers will attempt to average a speed of 61 mph over the entire route (obtainable without going over the speed limit).

Fresh off a stellar rookie season behind the wheel of a twin turbo PRO car, Erica Ortiz looks to keep the momentum rolling in 2007 with significant upgrades in her racing program.   The 26 year-old made monumental progress in her first year running the Fun Ford Weekend Pro 5.0 class, finishing 2nd in the points chase with consistent 6 second, 200 mph performances, and shattering the mold as the quickest and fastest woman in Fun Ford drag racing.