Six-Speed Slaughterfest

3rd Place
Ray Bernstein/Anthony Giagnacova
Boonsboro, MD
10.92/127.69

As Detail manager for Apple Ford in Columbia, Maryland, Ray Bernstein is constantly surrounded by Blue Ovals. He sold his last Mustang years ago right before starting a family, so when he heard Ford was going to produce a supercharged Mustang, he thought it was time to buy another Pony.

This Cobra has progressed as most do, and with Ray behind the wheel, it was doing quite well. He even set a personal best elapsed time, and turning the keys over to JDM Engineering employee Anthony Giagnacova netted a new best time for the car as well.

"I'm considering putting an automatic in it for next year," Ray says, "but we found out the gas pedal was bent and I wasn't getting 100 percent wide-open-throttle at the shootout. I've pretty much done everything I wanted to and much more than I thought I would when I bought the car."

4th Place
Roger Wilson, Denville, NJ
11.01/127.33

Roger Wilson had an order in for an '01 Cobra a few years ago, but he called off the purchase. Then, in 2004, a MystiChrome Cobra caught his eye.

At our shootout, Roger knew something was wrong with the car after the first couple of passes. Changing the spark plugs netted better elapsed times and about 5 more mph. His best pass of the day, an 11.02, was followed by another pass that was sure to be faster as the 60-foot time had improved slightly. But Second gear was not available for comment and the run was aborted. The next time up, the blower pulley popped off.

The damage was easily repairable, but Roger called it a day. "I've got a 3.00 pulley sitting on my desk and I might possibly use some nitrous," he says. "I've got to do the Level 5 axles too." Roger already offered to come back next year and fully plans on sacking the 10-second zone.

5th Place
Stephen Floyd, Hardy, VA
11.09/131.65

Steve was looking to hit the 10s using the Nitto 18-inch drag radials, and he came close. His last pass of the day began with the Cobra ripping the first 60 feet of track in 1.75 seconds, but the blower belt exited the engine compartment somewhere down strip, and he coasted to an 11.55 at 98mph.

"I've upped the nitrous since then to a 175 shot, and the car is considerably faster," Steve says. "I'd like to do cams and maybe a Kenne Bell, but I want to keep it as a street car and have fun with it."

6th Place
James Parker, Mobile, AL
11.291/126.58

James Parker started out tuning his car along with some friends' rides and turned the endeavor into Runnin' With The Devil, a full-time business. He was edged out by his own customer this day as his pair of 11.29s were not enough to beat Steve Floyd's 11.09 time.

"I know the car is capable of high 10s, but I couldn't get the 60-foot times down into the 1.6s," James says. "The clutch is good on the street, but at the track it really needs slicks." The Sonic Blue beast has logged a mere 9,800 miles on its odometer, thus the stock long-block still gets the job done both on and off the track.