Sutton's Stang was originally...
Sutton's Stang was originally black, but Chad Kurth saw to it that its racing nature was reflected in its bright-red paint scheme. The hood is a carbon-fiber piece, while the Ed Quay rear wing offers adjustment to keep the rear planted at high speeds.
Project 505 got a makeover, starting with Chad Kurth of Goldies Autobody in Beecher, Illinois. When the spray gun was set down for the last time, the Mustang had been changed from black to vibrant Torch Red with white Shelby-style stripes, while a carbon-fiber hood and Steeda front fascia were also added.
The car was then dropped off at Aaron's Fast Forward Race Cars shop where a rollcage was welded in. Aaron also fabricated the tubular front and rear suspensions, the fuel cell, the parachute mount, and the exhaust headers that feature 2-inch primary tubes.
At the time, the Three-Valve motor was brand-new, and the knowledge base and parts availa-bility were limited. Wanting to be competitive out of the gate, the Sutton crew thought it best to start with a powerplant they were already familiar with and that would make enough power.
At the car's debut during the '06 NMRA season opener in Bradenton, Florida, the stock Three-Valve short-block wore a set of Four-Valve cylinder heads and a Vortech YSi supercharger. Anxious to get the car out, the team put together this mild combination, yet it produced a 9.43 at 146 mph.
Florida didn't pan out race-wise for the team, but it showed what the modular motor was capable of. For the NMRA Maple Grove event, the Sutton Stang showed up with a Bennett Racing- built bullet between its fenders, and they stepped up in a big way by finishing in the runner-up position in Pennsylvania and in Joliet, Illinois, at the Super Bowl of Street Legal Drag Racing.
Aaron Stapleton, driver of...
Aaron Stapleton, driver of the Sutton Mustang and owner of Fast Forward Race Cars, handled the rollcage installation, among other mods. Kirkey, Stroud, and RJS also provide driver safety.
Despite the unbearably hot and humid weather in Joliet, the Sutton boys wanted to make a statement at their home track and took the number-one qualifying spot. Unfortunately, the mod motor suffered one of a few valve-seat ejections that had plagued it all year long. Pay dirt, however, came in Martin, Michigan, where the Sutton Stang qualified number one and took home its first victory. It was also the first time a modular-powered Pony won in the EFI Renegade class.
Towards the end of the year, the mod motor started having numerous block issues. The cylinders became out of round on the Teksid-based block. A switch to an Explorer aluminum block helped, but the team noticed that the main bearing webbing was cracking on both blocks.
Working with Ford Racing Performance Parts, the Sutton High Performance Mustang has been using a prototype iron-based Modular block for the '07 season. The extra 60 pounds of weight up front has been worth it, as there has been no signs of main webbing problems. They also quelled the valve-seat issue on the cylinder heads, something the team chalked up to excessive cylinder heat generated by the nonintercooled combination.
Many of the motor's internals are closely guarded team secrets, but here's what we can tell you. CP Pistons milled the pistons, and the connecting rods are from GRP. The cylinder heads are FR500 pieces from the FRPP catalog and use Ferrea valves and Jesel cam followers. If you want the cam specs, you'll have to call Sutton High Performance. Chances are, they still won't tell you, other than it fits the 0.550-lift class limits.
On top of the cylinder heads is a '99 Cobra intake manifold that's been modified slightly to employ a billet spacer to increase the plenum volume. Another piece borrowed from the '99 snake is the factory throttle body, which uses a Granatelli Motor Sports 80mm mass air meter to measure the boosted charge. Pressurization of the intake charge now comes by way of a Vortech V-7 YSi supercharger, and while the exact amount of boost is, well, secret, we can tell you that a Weldon fuel system, 150 lb-hr injectors and MSD coils work at the behest of the Big Stuff 3 engine management system to provide internal combus-tion of EFI Renegade magnitude.
Sutton High Performance is...
Sutton High Performance is on the fast track to modular-powered success, having claimed Third Place in the fiercely competitive and primarily pushrod-dominated EFI Renegade championship for 2006. The uphill battle continues in 2007, with the team qualifying number one at least once this year. Evidently there are a lot of people who believe these guys are on to something, as companies like Ford Racing Performance Parts, Steeda, and Pro Power Engine Parts have all joined on as sponsors.
Dynamic Racing Transmissions of North Branford, Connecticut, was sought out for one of its Dynamic C4 Mighty Mite three-speed automatic transmissions, and a 9-inch torque converter with a-you guessed it-top-secret stall speed. At the aft section of this quarter-mile missile is a Chris Alston Chassisworks Fab9 9-inch-style rear housing that's been fitted with Mark Williams Enterprises 40-spline axles and spool.
The Sutton High Performance team contin-ues to sort out the weak links in this Mustang, having had a water pump failure and a couple of supercharger-belt failures that put them behind in the points for the '07 season. They're looking to improve upon their Third-Place finish of last year, and as seeing they posted the number-one qualifying time at the NMRA Reynolds event in 2007, it looks like they're headed in the right direction. To date, the Sutton Mustang's best run has come in at 8.56 seconds at 160 mph. Depending on how the season turns out, Jerry says the team may be back to defend the championship, or they may look to step it up a bit and run NMCA Xtreme Street or Drag Radial.
"Our team is our performance edge and what makes the car fast," Jerry says. "Andy July and Bill Vanderlinde are part of our hard-core team that never gives up, even until the last breath. We knew we had to change a cylinder head in Bowling Green, Kentucky, last year, and most guys would have packed it in and called it a weekend. These guys were waiting with air tools in hand when we got back to the pits." Now that's factory service that only the Sutton Speed Machine can deliver.