Whenever the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, is mentioned, a discussion of the Civil War and the 1862 battle that occurred there isn't far off. A scant year and a half into the bloody conflict between the Union (North) and the Confederacy (South), the armies of Robert E. Lee and Ambrose E. Burnside battled for five days in the cold December climate for battlefield supremacy of this little Virginia town. While the Union forces greatly outnumbered the Confederate army, when the smoke of conflict cleared, the battle of Fredericksburg ended up being the most lopsided fight of the war. The Union casualty figure was more than double the number of Confederate soldiers killed or wounded, and while the battlefield was littered with the carnage of war, the Confederate soldiers were heard screaming a victorious sound, later named the "rebel yell."
While Craig Guido feels the need to uphold the legacy of the South, he doesn't get involved with Civil War reenactments, nor does he fly a Confederate flag. He simple puts "Fredericksburg, Virginia" on his tech sheet before sending out a damaging cannonade at the track every time he pulls up to the line in his '05 Mustang GT.
Take the Mustang's retro look,...
Take the Mustang's retro look, throw on some tough-looking hoodpins and Shelby-style black vinyl stripes, and this Pony is ready to take it to the competition.
A former circle-track racer, when Craig first laid eyes upon the then-new S197 body style, he decided to forgo turning left and embrace the straight and narrow path of drag racing. "When I saw the '05 Mustang on the road for the first time, I knew I had to have one," Craig says. "I bought the car brand-new and left it stock, but when I decided to stop racing dirt late-models in late 2005, I started to modify the car."
Craig put a "for sale" sign on his dirt-track car, and when the right amount of cash was agreed upon, his beloved car was sold. The money didn't languish in his pocket for long, however. "The day I sold my race car, I took a portion of the money and bought a supercharger." Soon, the tone from the Pony would start to increase from a whimper to a rebel yell.
The wheel and tire package...
The wheel and tire package is an aggressive setup consisting of Blingz 20-inch rims and Nitto 555 meats. Up front, a rugged Baer brake package gives this Pony enough whoa to match its go.
Craig didn't want to break the seal on the Three-Valve sitting between the shock towers, but he desired as much power as the engine could handle with the help of the blower. After the local freight service dropped the intercooled Vortech S-Trim on his doorstep, Craig promptly put the box of goodies in the trunk of the Pony, fired up the car, and cruised to Glen Burnie, Maryland, where Justin Burcham of JPC Racing waited for him.
With the motor remaining untouched, the boost level and the tune had to be reworked carefully to keep the 4.6L mod motor alive, well, and happy. Once the blower was installed, Justin swapped out the stock injectors for a set of 40-pound pieces, and raised the fuel pressure to 40 psi to match the 10 pounds of boost the Vortech huffer would create. He then installed a set of JPC Racing fuel rails and twiddled the keys of his laptop to create the perfect tune, which was promptly uploaded into the stock ECM. The car then went up in the air on the lift, where the stock exhaust system was ditched in favor of a full-on JBA exhaust system that includes a set of headers, an x pipe system, and mufflers.
Knowing the stock clutch and flywheel assembly would have a difficult bit of business handling the increased power and torque, said clutch and flywheel were replaced with Fidanza pieces. Craig's task of shifting the stock five-speed transmission was made easier thanks in part to the Steeda shifter that went in next. As for the 8.8-inch rear, the only change made was the installation of a set of 4.10 gears.