S197 Mustang GT Drag Racing Shootout - Three-Valve Throwdown

'06 Mustang GT
Charles McCarthy, Huntingtown, MD
11.62/108.94

While everyone else in the shootout used some sort of forced induction setup, Charles McCarthy went another route with his '06 GT. Using a pair of camshafts from Comp Cams, he ran most of the shootout on motor alone as he was having issues with the Zex nitrous kit that was installed.

After ironing out some of the problems, McCarthy finally did spray the Three-Valve, but only from half-track on. The resulting hit of the sauce hurt the engine on the car's final blast down the strip, on which McCarthy recorded his best short-time of the day, a 1.537. A mid-11-second e.t. out of the only Stang running on muscle is pretty impressive, though. Other than the aftermarket cams, the powerplant in this Pony is stock, and the nitrous system is of the 75hp origin. Tuning help comes from a DiabloSport tuner, and the car was left mostly stock save for the Kirkey seats, which McCarthy said shaved 70 pounds off of the S197's weight. Backing the saucy mod-motor is the stock automatic transmission, though a JPC Racing converter rated at 3,400 rpm helps get the 3,500-pound rocket moving from a standing start.

'05 Mustang GT Convertible
Rick LeBlanc, Dearborn Heights, MI
12.23/110.35

Rick LeBlanc's day was strenuous right from the start. On the way to Raceway Park from his home base in Michigan, a tie-down broke loose on his '05 GT convertible, complete with Ronaele touches, resulting in the drop-top bouncing around in the trailer. With body damage to a couple of corners on the S197, LeBlanc did the best he could with duct tape.

LeBlanc had the only soft-top car in the shootout, and it made for a nice change of scenery while standing on the starting line. Piloting the car for Livernois Motorsports, LeBlanc showcased for us Livernois' new MagnaCharger supercharger package. Utilizing the only Roots-style blower in the bunch, the kit from Livernois comes with the MP-112 blower injecting air at 8.5 pounds, a water-to-air intercooler, a cast-aluminum intake manifold, extruded aluminum fuel rails, higher-volume injectors, and a tune. Billed to add 120 ponies or more, the kit easily got LeBlanc's ride into the 12-second zone. After aborting the first two passes at half-track, he ripped off a 12.23 best with a car that weighed in at a little over 4,000 pounds with driver. With a little more driving prac-tice, this would have been an 11-second ride.